


RWBY: Saiyan's Rise

by cody8808



Category: Dragon Ball, RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Author might need Betas, Author somewhat knows what he is doing, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/F, F/M, Fem Broly, M/M, Minor Canon Divergence - Until Volume 3, Original Alien Races, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, Yang is replaced by OC, bandit yang, oc is op
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 38,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27474649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cody8808/pseuds/cody8808
Summary: After the destruction of Planet Vegeta by the God of Light and the God of Darkness, a lone Saiyan infant lands on Remnant. Will she be their salvation or their destruction?Also on FanFiction.Net
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/OC, Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee, Vernal/Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee/Neptune Vasilias
Kudos: 11





	1. Prologue

Heeled boots clicked rapidly down a pristine, white hallway. The woman stepped purposefully forward, but much more hurriedly than when she had walked in this direction before.

_ Boom! _

The woman stopped only long enough to keep herself steady as the whole building shook. She walked faster, fear growing in the pit of her stomach.

The woman wore a long lab coat over her flexible Hazard Armor. Said armor was similar to a typical Saiyan Imperial Armor, but the padding was focused more closer to the body, to protect vital organs more. It was tempered against various substances common and uncommon in an experimental laboratory. What good is a scientist if she’s too busy being dead from toxic waste?

Dark, shoulder length hair framed her face, her dark brown eyes furrowed forwards. Her armband on her left arm was the only identification she had that informed everyone that she was one of the Lead Sub-Light Drive Research Scientists of this facility.

_ How did it get to this? _

Three green-skinned, avian aliens nearly bowled her over as they tried to escape from the oncoming destruction. The tip of the woman’s tail twitched in agitation.

_ Fools! Cowards!  _ she thought to herself.

The woman walked ahead, pulling the arm of an eight year old girl, silently telling her to move. The girl looked from the three aliens back to the woman, worry deep in her features.

“Momma?” she asked. “Momma?”

“Hush,” the woman responded maybe a little harsher than she should have. “I’m trying to concentrate.”

The woman leaned down to pick the girl up and carry her under her right arm as soon as she felt that her daughter wasn’t keeping up.

“Momma!”

The woman ignored her as she marched even faster down the hall. 

Finally, they had made it to a large set of blast-proof doors. The woman stood in front of the Scanner at the right of the room and dropped her daughter on the ground. A holographic projection in Saiyan glyphs detailed that the room was highly restricted and any trespassers would be executed on sight by the authority of the king--

The woman immediately flashed her armband in front of the lens slowly. The Scanner registered the armband with a  _ beep! _ before asking for eye and Bio-Energy scans, which the woman also supplied.

The large doors slid open far too slowly for the woman’s liking, so she slid through as soon as the opening was wide enough. Her daughter timidly followed her.

A large room opened up in front of them, with only one light flickering on and off. There were various tools, machine parts, and computers strewn about, but what caught both of the Saiyans’ eyes were two Deployment Pods in the middle of the room. The one on the right was open while the left was not.

The young Saiyan girl looked into the Pod’s window, only to discover in shock, that it held her three month old sister. The infant slept easily, spiky black hair against her back and a blanket lovingly wrapped around her black and green infant model Combat Armor, completely ignorant of what was going on outside.

Confused and frightened, the young girl turned to her mother and asked, “Momma, what’s going on?! Why is Romiina here?”

“There is no time to explain--!” The woman snapped. She turned to her daughter, and upon seeing her frightened and hurt expression, deflated.

Kikori knelt in front of her daughter and--

_ Boom! _

Another shockwave shook the space station.

“Damn,” Kikori swore before looking into her daughter's reddish brown eyes. “I’m sorry, Rellefa, but...you’re going to leave for a little while.” She cupped Rellefa’s frightened face in her hands, “I can’t explain right now, but I promise, things will get better.”

Kikori went to a computer terminal and hit several keys. “I’m sending you to a small world. Clean air, lots of vegetation, no lifeforms taller than twenty-five cubits...”

“But why?”

“You should reach it in a couple weeks before your sister does...” Shocked, Rellefa turned to the closed Pod and back to her mother.

Seeing her face, Kikori went back to her daughter and grabbed one of the shoulder pads. “Hey. What must a Saiyan be?”

Gulping, Rellefa answered, her voice shaky, “A Saiyan...must stand tall and never falter… A Saiyan must be vicious and never...cower...” Kikori nodded for her to continue. “A Saiyan must be strong and never show weakness...”

Kikori nodded again and gave a small smile, “Good. You need to be a responsible and strong older sister, for Romiina. Can you do that?” Rellefa nodded. “I need you to get into the Pod.”

Rellefa began entering the Pod, but looked back, “What about you?”

Back at the computer terminal, her mother answered, “I’ll be right behind you, I promise.” The young Saiyan got into the Pod and it closed with a hiss.

Several more key presses and the Pod was loaded into the prototype of the next generation of Sub-Light Drive Launch Cannons. The coordinates were typed in and Rellefa was launched with a deafening  _ ZHWOOOOM! _

More key presses loaded Romiina’s Pod into the cannon--

_ BOOM! _

Another chunk of debris of the destroyed planet Vegeta rocked the space station. The shockwave knocked the scientist off of the terminal, accidentally pressing several keys. Before Kikori could fix it, however, the Pod was launched into parts unknown.

She screamed out, “NOOO!” Then silence.

Only after fully realizing that she would never see her children again, did Kikori fall apart. She would never see Rellefa or Romiina again. She would never hear them laugh, scream, or cry again. She could only hope that they would land somewhere and survive. Like true Saiyans.

Then she got angry.

Kikori got up and screamed. She screamed as she wrecked the equipment and parts onto the floor. She screamed as she tore up the wires and destroyed monitors.

Kikori huffed in dissatisfaction before slumping in the only non-upturned chair. She stared up at the ceiling and thought,  _ Gods? What a joke… _ She remembered what had happened only a few hours ago…

Two giant beings, one made out of darkness and the other out of light, suddenly appeared on Vegeta and demanded worship from the Saiyans for accomplishments that the warrior race had done, proclaiming themselves as Gods. That immediately started a war against the two beings. A very short war. Planet Vegeta was ripped asunder.

_ Fools… _ Who were the bigger fools, she didn’t know.

Kikori dared a smile as she thought of every curse word and combination thereof against those ‘Gods,’ right before a giant fragment of the planet instantly destroyed the research station.

  
  


/~/

Romiina’s Deployment Pod began to slow down out of Sub-Lightspeed. The computer system inside did what it was programmed to do and started with:

-[PROTOCOL // 001.A1: SELF-ANALYSIS]-

\--[STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY: OPTIMAL]

\--[STASIS MODULE SYSTEM: OPTIMAL]

\--[HOST STATUS: OPTIMAL]

\--[LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM: OPTIMAL]

\--[RESOURCE RESERVES: OPTIMAL]

\--[DESTINATION COORDINATES:  **-CORRUPTED-]**

-[PROTOCOL // 001.B2: OUTER ANALYSIS]-

\--[ANALYSIS COMPLETE]

\--[ENVIRONMENT: OUTER SPACE]

\--[CONCLUSION: INHOSPITABLE]

\--[ACTION: SEARCH FOR HABITABLE ENVIRONMENT]

-[PROTOCOL // 003.C4: ENVIRONMENT SEARCH]-

\--[SEARCHING…]

\--[YELLOW SOLAR RADIATION DETECTED]

\--[ACTION: SEARCH FOR SOURCE]

\--[SEARCHING…]

The Pod turned and shot off towards the source in the possibility of finding a habitable planet. A few days later…

-[PROTOCOL // 003.C4: ENVIRONMENT SEARCH]-

\--[SEARCHING…]

\--[YELLOW SOLAR RADIATION SOURCE FOUND]

\--[ANALYSIS: MEDIUM-GRADE YELLOW SUN]

\--[SEARCHING…]

\--[CELESTIAL BODIES FOUND]

\--[ANALYSIS…] 

\--[ANALYSIS: ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY FOUR CELESTIAL BODIES FOUND]

\--[TERRESTRIAL PLANETS: SIX]

\--[GAS GIANTS: THREE]

\--[DWARF PLANETS: SIXTEEN]

\--[MOONS--]

-[PROTOCOL // 004.A1: PLANETARY ANALYSIS]-

\--[POSSIBLE HABITABLE PLANET FOUND]

\--[SIZE: MEDIUM]

\--[ATMOSPHERIC ANALYSIS: HOSPITABLE]

\--[WEATHER PATTERNS: TOLERABLE]

\--[LIFE FORMS DETECTED]

\--[LIFE FORM COMPATIBILITY: OPTIMAL]

\--[PRIMITIVE BROADCASTS DETECTED]

\--[HOST COMPATIBILITY: OPTIMAL]

-[LANDING PROTOCOL: INITIALIZING...]-

The Pod turned toward a blue and green planet being orbited by a broken moon and shot itself straight for it, the inhabitants were completely unaware of the alien child hurtling towards their home. 

  
  


/~/

After decapitating the last Ursa, a younger Raven Branwen looked up at the noise coming from above. What she saw wasn’t necessarily unusual; she knew exactly what shooting stars were, but this was different. She had never seen one actually land, or more accurately, crash, before. And it was big. 

She felt the shockwave all the way from where she was. It looked like it landed on the other side of the forest, from where she and Taiyang lived.

_ Better investigate that, _ Raven thought.  _ Otherwise, I’d never hear the end of it… _

With practiced ease, Raven shapeshifted into her namesake and flew towards the landing sight. Once she had gotten there, Raven couldn’t believe what she saw. An orb-shaped device of some kind had crashed into a grove, knocking down every tree in its path while creating a twenty-foot long trench. 

What had stunned her the most was what she heard. A child was in the orb, crying, which in turn attracted several Grimm. This would have been a problem for most Hunters…

But not Raven Branwen.

In the span of five minutes, she had decapitated the heads, limbs and torsos of every Grimm that was dumb enough to try and take her on. Even the Ursa Major, the toughest one in the fight, may have lasted only several more moments longer.

As Raven walked up to the sphere, she noted several more details. It obviously looked high tech, like something Atlas would’ve made, but there was no propulsion system or engine of any kind… Raven peered into the slightly blue-tinted glass window and confirmed what she heard; a small child was crying its eyes out in the orb. The dark-haired Huntress stepped away from the strange object and hummed to herself.

“Now, how do I pry this thing open...” Just then, the orb made a loud hiss as the door to it opened, revealing more of the infant to Raven. Apparently, the child had dark and messy hair, light skin, and a voice that could wake the dead.

Raven walked over and gingerly (and awkwardly) picked up the crying infant by its sides. Feeling someone hold it, the infant quieted down, looking at the uncomfortable woman with big, teary, and dark eyes. For some reason, the child wore some sort of white-bordered black and green-colored uniform with white-ridged armbands and boots. 

It was then that Raven’s eyes widened as she saw the child’s most peculiar feature.

It had a brown-furred tail.

_ What the hell?! _ the Huntress thought to herself,  _ Did… Did Atlas start launching Faunus babies inside of these spheres or something?! _ She shook her head. 

Atlas may not have been…’pro-Faunus,’ but even they were not  _ that  _ stupid… Faunus rights groups, let alone the other Kingdoms, would flip their collective shit if that came out… Especially the White Fang, or at least Sienna Khan’s faction. Ghira would probably demand answers rather than resort to violence.

Raven looked over the child again before huffing in annoyance. She took the baby Faunus and cradled it in an arm as she snatched the blanket that was also in there. The Huntress handed the white star-patterned, green blanket to the infant, who proceeded to grip it instinctively before chewing on it.

“...You better not piss on me...” Raven partially muttered to herself as she began the long trek towards her and Tai’s home.

… 

Roughly four days had passed when Raven had brought the little monkey Faunus to their home. They, Team STRQ that is (minus Summer, as she was deep in a mission for Ozpin), had decided to let Ozpin in on this and let him come to inspect both the child and the pod, much to Raven’s chagrin.

As far as the old Huntsman could tell, the Faunus infant was a perfectly happy and healthy baby girl. They even asked Lieutenant General Ironwood to look into the Pod (or more accurately, several scans that Ozpin made) and the uniform, just in case an Atlesian higher-up wanted to start a civil war or if Salem was manufacturing something in Atlas, but nothing came up. Of course none of them gave any details regarding if there was a passenger or not…

Ironwood could overreact to just about anything, so they decided to not risk the chance of him and any of his researchers finding out and conducting any experiments on the child.

…

Raven was now standing deep in the forest, far away from the house, holding the ‘Faunus’ girl, now wearing a diaper and a pink shirt, in one of her arms. Raven’s eyes narrowed at the infant as she looked down at her, unsure. Something so tiny and weak…

The baby’s dark eyes fluttered open, before peering into Raven’s red eyes, full of curiosity. The little girl reached up to grab the Huntress’ hair, as she had done before, much to Raven’s irritation. Raven moved her hair to the side, eliciting a giggle from the baby. 

Raven reached down towards her belt, where she kept her knives, but stopped. The palm of her hand barely touched her lower abdomen. Raven’s brows knit together in confusion and concern.

Should she do this? This Faunus is only a baby… A baby that came out of the sky, with no idea what she--

“What are you doing, Raven?” With wide eyes, Raven sharply turned towards the voice. Her red eyes met the similarly colored ones of her brother, Qrow.

“Well?” Qrow’s hand gripping Harbinger’s handle, ready to be used. “Aren’t you going to say something?” From his voice, he already knew, but he didn’t like it any less. Raven’s brow furrowed at her twin.

“You already know the answer, Qrow.”

“Yeah, but I still can’t believe it. I know the Tribe messed us up,” the Branwen sister snarled at his last comment, “but this?” They both glanced down at the child. “Just...put her down and we can talk about--”

“There is nothing to talk about!” snapped Raven. “We don’t know what this thing is--!”

Suddenly, a blur rushed towards her, but Raven managed to block the strike in time with her knife. The infant, now crying, was flung out of her hands by how hard the force of the attack was. Raven glared into Ozpin’s eyes as he was pushing her back with his cane. Raven dropped her weapon and jumped back twice to gain some distance. She looked to the side and saw Glynda Goodwitch levitating the still crying Faunus baby, giving her her own glare.

Raven looked between the two and she gripped her sword’s handle, but didn’t draw it. The dark-haired Huntress questioned the blonde deputy headmistress, “When did you get here?”

“A couple hours ago,” Goodwitch answered almost nonchalantly as she tried to console the baby that was now in her arms. “It seems like Ozpin was right to call me after all.”

“This ‘thing,’ as you put it,” Ozpin interrupted, glaring at Raven, “is obviously a lost and abandoned child.” Raven sneered at his near-condescending tone.

“Yeah, a child in a military-esque uniform, inside of some sort of...tech-ball that none of Ironwood’s personnel can identify, and both came falling out of the sky--”

“And what?” Qrow asked incredulously, “That she’s some kind of space-alien?!”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Raven yelled. Taking a couple of breaths, she continued, “What I do know is that every instinct is telling me that ‘ _she_ ’ is a threat!”

“Instincts,” Qrow commented flatly.

“The same instincts that kept your  _ stupid  _ Semblance from killing me all these years!” Qrow looked away, scratching his cheek.

“You honestly believe that this girl was sent as some sort of child-soldier? For what purpose?” asked Glynda, raising an eyebrow. The baby in question had finally calmed down, looking up at the Beacon instructor with teary eyes.

Ignoring her, Raven pointed at the headmaster and warned him, “Mark my words,  _ Ozpin _ , she will become a threat, to you, your Academies, everyone. And I won’t stay around for this… Whatever ‘this’ is, especially if no one is going to listen.” The swordswoman turned her back to them, unsheathing Omen and cutting a rift into the air. But before she walked through… Another person appeared in the small clearing.

“Please, Rae...” Raven stopped, obviously in shock, even though she honestly shouldn’t have been. Taiyang Xiao Long looked at her, his heart breaking, and she could practically feel it from his voice. Raven tilted her head down, and again, she touched her lower abdomen with her left hand.

She turned her head slightly and whispered, “I’m sorry, Tai...” before she stepped into the portal, closing it. 

Taiyang fell to his knees in disbelief. Qrow walked to his friend and was about to put his hand on his shoulder, but stopped. Qrow shook his head in disgust with his sister’s actions and started the long trek back to the house, followed by both Ozpin and Goodwitch.

…

A week later…

“So,” Summer Rose asked Taiyang as he fed the semi-adopted baby monkey Faunus, “thought of any names yet?” Taiyang thought it over again, looking down at the baby girl as she gulped down her third bottle of formula in a row. She had quite the appetite… 

“Yushi,” Taiyang finally answered. “Yushi Xiao Long...” Summer smiled fondly at the little Faunus. She looked up at the white-hooded woman with curious eyes as she clutched onto her green blanket.

“Sounds pretty good to me...” Yushi popped the bottle’s nipple out of her mouth and burped impressively and loudly. The two blinked before laughing at the child.

_...To be continued. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some info about this fanfic that will hopefully answer a question or two. If you want to see the entire rant, search for it on FanFiction.Net.
> 
> Pre-Fic:  
> \- The Gods of Light and Darkness destroyed planet Frieza before they became an intergalactic empire  
> \-- The Saiyans of this universe were free to develop their own interstellar empire, but not one that was as big as the Frieza Force  
> \-- Instead of becoming a savage civilization of genocidal space pirates, the Saiyan Empire became more like an ‘protection insurance’ type of gang disguised as an interstellar empire  
> \-- It wasn’t a completely bogus deal, though, since the Saiyans would provide protection if need be, such as if an invasion by another race occurred, they would help defend it  
> \-- Living like this, the Saiyan culture became more ‘noble’ proud warrior race than ‘savage’ proud warrior race. They still love to fight and are a bit arrogant and standoffish, but they have some sort of code of honor and won’t randomly blow up a planet full of innocents for the evulz
> 
> \- Then their planet blew up… Womp-womp…  
> \-- Yup, since the Gods of Light and Darkness blew up planet Vegeta, the Saiyans were scattered throughout the universe, broken, and becoming more like Space Cossacks
> 
> Sayian Biology (of THIS universe):
> 
> \- Saiyan tails are not a weakness  
> \-- It hurts if you pull on a Saiyan’s tail, but it doesn’t cause them to be disabled or anything, nor can it be torn off by a simple tug  
> \- Sayian tails are not where the Great Ape hormone glands are located  
> \- A Saiyan wrapping their tail around someone is a VERY strong sign of trust and affection
> 
> \- Saiyans do become Great Apes if they do see the moon, but only if they feel like they’re in mortal danger in the meantime  
> \-- Going in or out of Great Ape form at will is possible, if the necessary training is done
> 
> \- Saiyans have fangs.  
> \-- Why? I’ve seen the art  
> \-- It is adorable
> 
> \- Saiyans come in three varieties: regular Saiyan, Saiyan with the Super Saiyan mutation, and Saiyan with the Legendary Super Saiyan mutation  
> \- The regular Saiyan starts out at Base Power, a powered up state, and an Enraged State, each one increasing his/her Bio-Energy (Aura, Ki, whatever) output, making them stronger
> 
> \- The Zenkai boost is what allowed ancient Saiyans to survive in the wild. It is a Saiyan’s ability to become stronger when damaged. Any damage will increase a Saiyan’s base power, but the worse the damage is, especially the near-fatal ones, it will multiply the power gained even more, if left to heal naturally. Medicine is only used in emergencies  
> \-- It would explain their blood knight tendencies: to survive, a Saiyan must be strong. To be strong, a Saiyan must fight. To fight, a Saiyan must have challenging opponents to spar with
> 
> \- A Saiyan with the Super Saiyan mutation can do what a regular Saiyan can, except, y’know, they can also become a Super Saiyan  
> \-- A Saiyan’s Z-Cells hold their Bio-Energy reserves while their lineage (if they have the Super Saiyan mutant gene at all) dictates whether they can become a Super Saiyan or not  
> \-- Going back to the Zenkai boost thing… It is what causes SSJ mutants to become super. During the healing process, the Saiyan’s ‘soul’ heals the body and improves it by slightly overloading said Saiyan with reserve Bio-Energy from the Z-Cells. Super Saiyan mode works similarly (minus the healing factor); under extreme duress, the body overloads the Saiyan with half of a Saiyan’s reserve Bio-Energy
> 
> \- Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue use Divine Energy, so I don’t know about the ratios, and don’t even get me started on Ultra Instinct…
> 
> \- Now for Saiyans who have the Legendary Super Saiyan mutation (aka, Broly, Kale, and Yushi)  
> \-- They’re like Super Saiyans except for one thing: their Wrath State  
> \-- A LSSJ mutant’s Wrath State is a combination of a Super Saiyan’s Enraged State and Great Ape transformation. When really mad, the LSSJ mutant’s body mass increases, but doesn’t become a Great Ape. To compensate, the body simultaneously overloads the body with Bio-Energy while healing it constantly. This causes a feedback loop, which diminishes Bio-Energy loss and makes going Super Saiyan while in the Wrath State extremely fuel efficient  
> \-- Not only that, but the constant healing allows the Saiyan to gain super-adaptability, making him/her develop several times faster than a Super Saiyan and reaching each level’s maximum potential with terrifying efficiency
> 
> \- Don’t worry, though, the Super Saiyan mutation only occurs in 5% of the entire Saiyan population while the LSSJ mutation occurs in less than 1%
> 
> Remnant stuff:  
> \- Yang is not miscarried or anything  
> \-- She will appear later in the story
> 
> \- Yushi (femBroly OC) replaces Yang in her role in the story


	2. Shining Beacon

Ruby Rose stood in the middle of the Airbus, fidgeting in place, completely surrounded by strangers. Sure, they mostly ignored her after the cursory glance, but...what did they think? That she had gotten lost? That she somehow got on the wrong Airbus? Ruby kept looking around, maybe for somewhere to hide.

What Ruby didn’t see was that someone was coming up from behind her…

The figure was tall; she had a good two feet (at least) on the young Huntress-in-training. She had wild, spiky black hair that was tied back in an equally spiky ponytail, which was held together by three green-colored bands. She wore a white-bordered, black sleeveless turtleneck, clasped by an asymmetric fold, which accentuated both her bust and her sculpted abs. A jade green insignia of a fist surrounded by a ring that had six points coming off of it, like a star, was brazenly shown on her chest, right where a cleavage window would be. 

A pair of dual headphone-speakers hung around her neck, wirelessly connected to the figure’s Scroll and ready to play music during a fight, exercising, or when relaxing.

The figure also wore a pair of black sleeves that covered her whole forearms and reached halfway up her upper arms and down to the middle of her hand, where her thumb poked out of the fabric. She wore a matching pair of dark grey and green gloves over the sleeves on her hands, a pair of grey and black bracers that could mechashift into two arm-mounted double-barrel submachine guns (collectively called Berserk Sentry), and some more dark grey-colored, woven-looking armor over her upper arms. 

She had a pair of green baggy pants (which had a hole for her tail to poke out of) that went into a pair of thinly armored dark grey and black boots. A small belt of four timed Dust grenades hung from her waist.

A green and black kimono-like jacket was tied to her waist via its sleeves and folded so it wouldn’t obstruct her tail or become cumbersome when running or ‘bursting’ through the air when it wasn’t in use at the time, which it was specifically designed to do. Both the inside and outside of the back of the kimono-jacket was stitched with the same symbol since it was also designed to be worn inside-out and vice-versa.

The figure then picked Ruby up in a tight hug, eliciting a yelp from the girl. Once she heard the hugger’s laughter, Ruby pouted in frustration.

“Yushi!” Ruby cried out. Everyone near the two sisters that was watching looked away when they figured out that the two knew each other. Only when she had gotten away from her sister’s death-grip hug did Ruby glared up at the giant. “Yushi Xiao Long,” she tried again, “what was that for?!”

Yushi snickered at her little sister, “What else? I’m just so proud that my baby sis is coming with me to Beacon! This is awesome! Everyone is gonna think that you’re awesome!”

“I don’t want to be some ‘awesome-girl!’ I just want to be a normal girl...and now everyone is staring...” Ruby looked around conspiratorially, to which Yushi just rolled her eyes.

“No Rubes, they’re not. They have better stuff to worry about than watching two strangers hug.” Yushi narrowed her eyes at her sister and asked, “And why aren’t you getting excited? Aren’t you happy that you’re going to Beacon?”

“Of course I’m excited, I’m just...” Ruby let out a defeated sigh. “I got moved ahead two years, I just don’t want people to think I’m special or anything...” Yushi walked up to the red-hooded girl and hugged her arm around Ruby’s shoulder.

“But you are special. You’re special because you’re Ruby Rose. You’re special because you’re my baby sis. If people wanna be turds about it, then that’s their problem.” After a minute of sisterly-bonding, Yushi added, “And then I’ll break their legs.”

“Yushi!” 

Yushi’s giggling at Ruby’s patented pouts was interrupted by a holo-broadcast of the news,  _ “The robbery was carried out by the notorious criminal, Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa.” _

_ “Thank you, Ceril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus civil rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has also disrupted--” _

Just then, the holo-image of Glynda Goodwitch, Beacon’s combat instructor and deputy headmistress, interrupted the broadcast.  _ “Hello and welcome to Beacon. I am Glynda Goodwitch, and you are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task. And now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world.”  _ Then the holo-image disappeared.

Several prospective students, including Ruby, looked out of the window to gawk at the Huntsman Academy that was getting closer and closer below.

“Look,” Ruby called out to Yushi, “you can see Signal from here.” 

Yushi looked to the side and thought,  _ Man, I hope Dad is holding up, okay… He was being pretty sappy when the Airbus came… _

“I guess home isn’t too far after all...” 

Yushi came up to grip Ruby’s shoulder reassuringly and said, “Beacon’s our home, now.”

That’s when the two looked towards some sickly noises from the right and saw one of their future-classmates desperately try to hold onto his lunch.

“Oof...” Yushi winced, “That must be rough...”

“It was a nice moment while it lasted...” added Ruby.

“I wonder who we’ll meet next.”

“I hope they’re better than Vomit Boy… Ew! Yushi! You almost stepped in it!”

“Oh, for the love of--!”

“Get away! Get away!”

/~/

As the other teenagers left the Airbus, or ran to the nearest trash can to puke their guts out, in one case, Yushi and Ruby walked up and gawked at the impressive sight of Beacon Academy in all its glory. 

“Man,” Yushi said, obviously impressed, “the view from before was impressive, but this beats it by a mile.” But Ruby squee’d at all of the new weapons she was seeing, much to her sister’s amusement.

“Sis!” Ruby pointed like a kid in a candy store, “that kid’s got a collapsible staff! And she’s got a fire-sword! And--” Yushi promptly pulled her back down to reality with a quick shoulder shake.

“Easy there, Baby Sis, take deep breaths… They’re just weapons--”

“‘Just weapons?!’” Ruby asked incredulously. “They’re an extension of ourselves; a part of us! They’re so cool...and not all of us can just shoot laser blasts from our hands.” Yushi pouted at that last part.

“And what about Crescent Rose?” the larger girl asked. Ruby quickly clutched her sniper-scythe, like a little girl holding a stuffed animal.

“Obviously Crescent Rose is the awesomest, but I really like seeing new ones. It’s like meeting new people...only better...” Yushi frowned at that before putting her hands on her hips.

“Rubes, I love ya and all, but you really need to break out of your introverted shell. Get out of your comfort zone, meet actual people, make some friends.”

“Why would I need friends when I have you?” Ruby asked innocently.

“Weeeeell,” Yushi began, looking semi-guiltily, “my-friends-are-here-now-I’ll-see-ya-bye!” She and a group of Signal students that Ruby recognized as Yushi’s classmates suddenly appeared out of nowhere and zipped past, dizzying the poor girl and leaving her confused.

Yushi quickly rushed off, ignoring Ruby’s questions and thought,  _ Sorry Rubes, but this is for your own good… _

/~/

“Dude, I still can’t believe you ditched your sister like that,” Terry, a blue-headed boy with hazel eyes, joked. Yushi gave him a not-serious glare as the small-ish group walked through campus.

“I didn’t ditch her, per se. It’s more like a trial by fire...or maybe a trial by social awkwardness…”

“Is she really that bad?” asked a new girl who had followed the group, just to see why there was a group to begin with. She sounded like she was from Vacuo, if Yushi could guess by her accent. The tall girl rolled her hand, trying to come up with something.

“I love my sis, don’t get me wrong, but she needs to get out and meet new people, now more than ever. What if she gets put into a team without me in it? She’d have a panic attack!”

The new girl nodded, “That makes sense...” Wanting to change the awkward conversation, Yushi looked around, still amazed at the sights.

“Man, I still can’t believe I’m here… It only seems like yesterday that we were back at Sygnal...”

“What do you mean  _ you  _ can’t believe?” Terry joked again, “If any of us had a sure ticket to get into Beacon, it’d be you.”

“What do you mean?” asked another new person. Yushi inwardly groaned… She knew exactly what was coming, but made no move to stop it.

“What? You’ve never heard of Yushi Xiao Long, the Prodigy of Signal Academy--?” Yushi promptly flicked Terry’s nose, if only to stop the hype.

“C’mon, man,” she complained. “You know how much I hate that...”

“Cat’s out of the bag now,” joked Coral, a dark-skinned and pink-haired girl, who was also from Signal.

“And how is she a prodigy?” asked a boy with light brown hair and wearing armor.

“She killed a Goliath. Single-handedly,” Rojo, an octopus-eyed Faunus boy, recounted.

“What?!”

“Impossible!”

“You’re lying!” Yushi’s brow twitched at that last one, but it went mostly unnoticed.

“She did!” Coral defended, “I saw it myself. Mr. Xiao Long was teaching us how to track a pack of Beowolves when they ambushed us. Between us and them, we took them out pretty easily, but that’s when the lone Goliath crashed through the tree line.”

“Yushi got into action immediately,” continued Terry. “She grabbed the thing’s tusks in her bare hands, stopping it cold, flipped it onto its side, and snapped its neck.” A long silence later…

“Video or it didn’t happen,” someone challenged. Terry just shrugged before looking at Coral.

“Rojo, you got a video of it, right?” the pink-haired girl asked the Faunus, to which he nodded.

“Yeah, I was the only one that picked their jaw off of the floor fast enough to take it...” The octopus Faunus whipped out of his Scroll and hit play after finding the video. Everyone’s eyes widened in disbelief as they watched, true to what had been said, as Yushi stopped the Goliath mid-stampede and killed it.

“That’s our valedictorian for you,” commented Coral. “Broke every physical record that we had, too.”

“Holy shit...” someone swore absently.

Yushi smiled in amusement as she watched the others gape at what she had done. She did like the attention sometimes, but other times… Well, it got grating, too. 

Some people only hung around her to feed off the scraps of her success and begged for more by pretending to be nice and whatever. Yushi instantly knew when someone tried to pull that shit and she  _ hated  _ the fakeness of it all.

Obviously, Coral, Terry, Rojo, and a handful of others were the exception. They actually bothered to know Yushi for who she was. But the monkey Faunus could already see the hamster wheels turning in a few heads, trying to figure out a way to use her as a stepping stone to make themselves more famous. That’s why she (usually) didn’t brag about herself; she wanted people to like the real her.

Yushi was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice that someone was trying to get her attention.

“Excuse me, ma’am.” Yushi finally noticed and turned around to find a somewhat portly man with a rusty red and brown-colored head of hair and mustache glaring up at her. He wore a blue-grey uniform and cap that read BAS, the abbreviation for Beacon Academy Security. Yushi turned to the rest of the group, who also took notice of the man, and looked back.

“Can I...help you?” she ventured cautiously.

_ Please don’t want an autograph, please don’t want an autograph, please don’t-- _

“You can help us all, and yourself...”

_...Okay, what? _

“...Excuse me?” The man huffed in exasperation.

“I understand wanting to relive the glory days, truly I do, but you’re just embarrassing yourself, trying to impress these kids with old Huntress stories...” It took a moment for what he said to click, but when it did, Yushi inwardly groaned even harder.

“Look,” Yushi tried to explain, “I get that my height combined with my physique makes me look older than I am, but--”

“Mhmm,” the man interrupted, obviously unimpressed. “Let me guess: found a couple more wrinkles, your last date didn’t end well, feeling a bit lonely while looking through the ol’ Beacon Yearbook and you just wanted to relive your school years, that right?” Yushi’s brow twitched harder, which Coral, Rojo, and Terry had noticed this time.

Yushi furrowed her brows dangerously before leaning towards the security guard and said, “Excuse me?” It wasn’t a question, not really. It was a challenge. An ominous challenge.

The man, while admirably keeping his cool, did sweat a little, especially after he saw three of the teenagers from the group take four long steps back from Yushi, and not before long, the rest of the group followed after. The man tried to look around for some assistance, before he saw one of the professors walk up.

“Oh, good… Professor Goodwitch,” he breathed in relief. 

The blonde instructor looked between the offending parties before asking, “And what seems to be the trouble here?” Yushi cocked a brow at the instructor before glaring at the man.

“This... _ rent-a-cop _ ,” that was the only nice descriptor she could come up with, “believes that I’m some sorta Huntress going through a midlife crisis and won’t hear me out.” Goodwitch cocked her own eyebrow at the man.

“Is this true, Mr. Ginger?” The man froze in place, his confidence beginning to shatter.

“You...know this woman, Professor Goodwitch?” The blonde woman nodded.

“Yes, I visited her father a few times in the past and even helped Miss Xiao Long with her training regimen. I assure you, Mr. Ginger, that she is seventeen years old and was explicitly invited by the Headmaster himself to apply for Beacon. Is that enough proof for you?” The man turned from the combat instructor back to Yushi, who was looking down at him with the largest, most contemptuous, curled grin she could make.

“I… I...” He finally broke. He walked robotically away from the area as fast as he could.

“Asshat...” Yushi whispered loudly before turning to the professor, somewhat sheepishly. “Thanks for that Auntie--” Goodwitch’s severe glare froze Yushi immediately.

“Miss Xiao Long,” she said coolly, “you are to address me as Professor Goodwitch, is that understood?” Yushi nodded frantically. “Good. There shouldn’t be any more trouble, but just in case, I’ll give a report to Professor Ozpin and Professor Greene. You all should head towards the auditorium; the Headmaster’s speech will start shortly.” The blonde woman turned curtly and walked away.

Yushi turned to the group, who was looking at her incredulously. 

“Did you just call the toughest teacher on campus ‘Auntie…?’” asked Terry.

“And why didn't you tell us that Glynda Goodwitch taught you?!” asked Coral. Yushi shrugged.

“All she did was give me some training advice. And it never really came up before.” Everyone gave her a deadpan expression. “...What?”

/~/

The other prospective students were milling about in the auditorium as Yushi waited for Ruby--

_Oh, there she is!_ That’s also when she spotted the blonde kid from earlier, Vomit Boy, walking with her. Yushi’s eyes narrowed dangerously, before she shook her head. _No, stop it._ _No one is going to try to hit on Ruby so early in the school year…_ At least they better not.

Yushi began to wave Ruby down. “Ruby! Over here, I saved you a spot!” The younger sibling saw Yushi, said something to Vomit Boy, and zipped down to the monkey Faunus, giving her a seriously miffed look.

“Sooooo,” Yushi began coyly, “how’d it go?”

“You mean after you ditched me and I exploded?” Yushi narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

“...Are you being figurative?”

“No, I’m being literal. I literally exploded in front of the school. There was fire, ice, lightning...” Ruby then gave a huff before continuing, “I tripped over some crabby girl’s luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and then I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me--”

“You!!” yelled a white-haired girl that made Ruby jump into Yushi’s arms, scared of being yelled at again.

“Oh Gods, it’s happening again!” Yushi’s eyes opened wide in shock, having instantly recognizing the Schnee. What Faunus didn’t know who a Schnee when they saw one?

_ I’d heard rumors that she was coming to Beacon… I planned to just ignore her, but I guess it’s just my luck that Ruby managed to find  _ and  _ tick her off... _

“You’re lucky we weren’t blown off of the side of the cliff!”

“Holy shit,” muttered Yushi, “you actually exploded…”

“It was an accident,” Ruby hurriedly explained as she got back onto the ground, “it was an accident!” 

The Schnee instantly unfurled a pamphlet that read  _ Dust for Dummies and Other Inadequate Individuals _ . “What’s this?” The Schnee immediately listed off several tons of legalese, which just made Ruby dizzy and gave Yushi a headache… “Um...”

“Do you really want to make things up to me?” the Schnee asked, eyeing the red-hooded girl. Ruby nodded.

“Absolutely…?” 

The Atlesian girl shoved the pamphlet into Ruby’s hands and said, “Read this and never speak to me again.”

“Let’s hold on a minute,” Yushi said, trying to salvage the situation. She knew that she shouldn’t get involved with the SDC heiress of all people here, but Yushi couldn’t help it. Ruby looked so lost…and she really wanted to make right whatever happened between the two of them. It was just who Ruby was. “Why don’t you two wipe the slate clean, huh? It’s way too early to be making enemies; the school year hasn’t even started yet.”

“Great idea, Sis!” Ruby agreed and held out her hand to the Schnee, who looked at it like it was dirty. “Hello Weiss--”

_ Shiiiiit!! _

“I’m Ruby. Wanna hang out? We could go shopping for school supplies--”

Yushi mentally facepalmed,  _ Dammit… _

“Yeah!” Weiss started sarcastically, “We can paint our nails, try on clothes, and talk about cute boys like tall, blonde, and...scraggly over there.” Vomit Boy seemed to perk up when Weiss thumbed over towards him.

“Oh, wow, really?!”

A long pause later… “No.”

The two were, thankfully, interrupted as Ozpin took the stage and waited for everyone to quiet down.

“I’ll...keep this brief,” the headmaster began. “You have travelled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you’re finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will see that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step.”

Goodwitched stepped up to the microphone as the headmaster stepped away, offstage, and added, “You will gather in the library tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready.”

“Man,” Yushi commented, “sounded like someone spilled their bowl of Pumpkin Pete’s this morning...”

“It’s almost like he wasn’t even there...” agreed Ruby. Jaune popped up right next to Weiss and gave her a flirty smile.

“I’m a natural blonde, you know?” The heiress just grumbled in irritation.

/~/

The applicants were in the admittedly large library, in their sleepwear talking, lounging around, and- since there was no obstruction between the guy’s side and the girl’s side- some flirting between the teenagers.

Ruby was writing a letter, wearing a black shirt and a pair of pink heart-printed white sweatpants, about ready to go to bed, when Yushi crashed right next to her.

“Talk about the world’s biggest slumber party, huh Sis?” Yushi herself wore a red shirt with white lettering that read ‘2 Kool’ down the back sideways and a simple pair of black sweatpants, which included a hole for her tail to slip through, like all of her pairs of pants did.

“I don’t think Dad would approve of all the boys though...” commented ruby.

“I know I do...” Yushi glanced while wriggling her brows at all of the shirtless boys walking around- and promptly ignored Jaune in his onesie- before looking at the girls. “And the ladies are pretty, too,” she added, winking at one of them. The redheaded fox-eared Faunus girl that she had winked at looked away, blushing. 

The older sister laughed as she was clobbered with a pillow by a red-faced Ruby. “Yushi!”

“What’s that?” asked Yushi, seeing the letter after calming down.

“A letter to the gang back at Signal. I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things are going--”

“D'awww!!” Yushi was smacked with a pillow again.

“Shut up,” Ruby said, annoyed with her sibling. “I didn’t get to take my friends with me to school. It’s weird not knowing anyone here.”

“What about, uh...”

“Jaune.”

“Yeah, him. He seems nice. See, you’ve already made a friend here!”

“Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative-friend...” Yushi rolled her eyes.

“Sis, sometimes people are just gonna have sticks up their butts--”

“Yushi!”

“--but that’s the thing about life; sometimes you’re gonna have to deal with people with sticks up their butts.”

“YUSHI!”

“You need to give it time. Hell, maybe someone across from us will be your best friend!” Ruby looked over, half-heartedly, before spotting someone that held her interest. 

Yushi followed her gaze and spotted the girl. She wore kimono-like pajamas and a black bow on her head, and while she was leaning against the wall and reading a book by candlelight, her amber eyes skimmed over the words.

Yushi nodded sagely, “ _ Nice _ ...” Ruby looked over and blushed before smacking her sister’s arm.

“Yushi! All she did was help me with what happened earlier, but left before I could say anything.” Yushi gave a devious grin before easily picking up the petite girl around the waist by an arm and walked towards the dark-haired girl.

“Yushi?! What are you doing?!”

“Giving you the opportunity to say something.”

Blake looked up from her book at the sound of a squeak and struggling to see that the girl from before was under a really tall Faunus’ arm as they walked towards her. Her brow rose slightly at the sight, but hoped that they were just going to pass her. 

Blake’s hopes were dashed away when they stopped just short of her.

Yushi put Ruby back on the floor, standing straight, like a mannequin. Yushi waved to the girl.

“Hey there...” The elder sibling looked at her sister, who was still pouting indignantly. Yushi narrowed her eyes before ‘love-tapping’ her ankle.

“Ow!” Ruby cried out and glared at her sister. The monkey Faunus nodded her head to the dark-haired girl expectantly.

“Oh, uh...” Ruby tried, but fidgeted in place a bit in some embarrassment. “I just wanted to say thanks, for earlier. You know…the whole--”

“You mean when you exploded?” Blake asked.

“Yeah...” Ruby scratched the back of her head sheepishly. “My name’s Ruby, but you can call me Crater...” The bow-haired girl had returned to reading her book. “Actually, you can just call me Ruby...”

“Oookay...” Blake said in slight amusement.

“What was that?!” Yushi whispered.

“I-don’t-know-help-me!” Ruby whispered back before smiling innocently to the apparent bibliophile.

“I’m Yushi, and you are…?” the brawler ventured. The girl let out a breath.

“It’s Blake,” she answered before going back to her book.

“I like your...pajamas.” 

“...Thanks.”

“They’re very...Mistralian.”

“...Right.” Yushi looked at Ruby, who gave a shrug in response. 

“Nice night, don’t ya think?” Blake let out another breath.

“Yes. It’s lovely. Almost as lovely as this book. That I will continue to read. As soon as you leave.”

“Not much of a conversationalist, is she?” Yushi whispered to her sister. Blake resisted the urge to flick her ears in annoyance.

“What’s it about?” Ruby asked, actually interested.

“Huh?” Blake looked up, honestly surprised.

“Your book. Does it have a name?”

“Well, it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control for his body.” Yushi scratched her cheek at the heavily philosophical subject matter.

“Isn’t there gonna be a movie about that coming out soon?”

Ruby stepped up and said, “I love books. Yushi used to read to me before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters… They’re one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress.” Blake raised an eyebrow in response.

“Why is that?” she asked, slightly amused. “Hoping you'll live happily ever after?”

“Well,” Ruby shrugged, “I’m hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books. Someone who fought for what was right and who protected people who couldn’t protect themselves.”

“That’s very ambitious for a child...” Blake looked away, almost melancholic. “Unfortunately, the real world isn’t the same as a fairy tale.”

“Well, that’s why we’re here. To make it better.” Yushi then put Ruby in a headlock, beaming with pride while giving a soft noogie. Ruby struggled valiantly, but it was in vain

“Awww! That’s my little--”

Weiss marched towards the two in a silvery-white nightgown and yell-whispered, “What in the world is going on over here? Don’t you realize some of us are trying to sleep?” Once she saw Ruby and Yushi… “Oh, not you again!” Yushi just rolled her eyes.

Ruby looked around, suddenly embarrassed, “She’s right; people are trying to sleep...” 

Weiss eyed the two, ready to insult their nightwear fashion sense, before she finally noticed the brown-furred tail behind Yushi. Weiss’ eyes bugged out of her head, surprising the three.

“Wait-- Hold on-- Wha--?!” the heiress stumbled as she frantically checked, mostly Ruby, for any more visible Faunus traits. “I thought you said that you were sisters?!” Yushi gave an unimpressed expression before rolling her eyes, again.

“I was adopted,” the monkey-tailed girl droned, like she’d explained this before. At nauseum. Weiss blinked a few times before giving a haughty glare at the younger girl.

“And that would explain the way  _ you  _ act, having to live with this  _ Faunus _ .” Blake’s eyes widened in shock before glaring at the Schnee, which turned to actual concern when she saw Yushi’s expression.

Yushi was angry, yes, but not because of the derogatory remark towards her. No, she was used to it, and it never bothered her. Like she said before, some people just have sticks up their butts. 

Thankfully, it wasn’t really much of a problem around Patch, since it was such a small community that everyone got to know everybody. Well, maybe except for Ol’ Man Stinkmire...but he hated everybody. 

What got under her skin was the way the Schnee was implying that  _ Ruby’s  _ faults were because of  _ her _ . That Yushi’s presence had somehow hurt Ruby, maybe not physically, but psychologically and/or socially. THAT was a mistake.

Yushi furrowed her brows dangerously at the Schnee, eyes threatening to become green, before leaning over the girl. Weiss’ eye widened again, with apprehension this time, as she watched the Faunus lean over her, the height of the girl finally sinking in. That maybe she shouldn’t have upset the girl that was  _ this  _ tall,  _ this  _ physically fit, and  _ this  _ close to her. The tip of Yushi’s tail twitched irritably.

Ruby’s eyes widened, too; she wasn’t stupid. She knew all the signs: twitching eyebrow meant ‘okay, you’re annoying me,’ leaning over someone meant ‘now you’re getting on my nerves,’ and the tip of Yushi’s tail twitching as it was mostly still meant ‘I’m going to kick your ass.’ The more erratic the tail twitched, the more severe the ass-kicking.

“Yushi--” Ruby harshly whispered as she tried to distract Yushi, but was cut off.

“Maybe you should look around you,  _ Dutchess _ ,” Yushi said. Weiss did just that, before her brain could register how bad of an idea it was to take her eyes off of the monkey-tailed girl. What she saw were several Faunus, including Rojo and the fox-eared girl from before, giving her dirty looks, along with a handful of human applicants. 

“This is  _ Beacon  _ Academy, not  _ Atlas  _ Academy, and unlike Atlas, Beacon doesn’t segregate human and Faunus students into different classes. These  _ Faunus _ ,” Yushi mimicked Weiss’ tone, “as you put it, are gonna be your classmates. Hell, I’d wager that your team is gonna have at least one Faunus in it.” Yushi leaned even closer to the heiress, dark-colored eyes glaring into pale blue.

“Unless you can get off of that high horse of yours, face reality, and stop thinking with that ignorant mindset, then the next four years here are gonna be hell on Remnant for you.”

“...W-w-wha…?” was the only response. “Y-you can’t say… I’m--”

“You’re a disappointment.” Weiss’ eyes widened considerably. “When I heard that you were coming here, I hoped that you would be different, that you’d be better than the bastard that your father is.” Yushi snorted mirthlessly before continuing, “This is what I get for letting my hopes up...” Yushi then walked away, waving behind her.

“Guess I’ll see ya later, Blake.” Ruby looked between Yushi and Weiss several times, growing more concerned by the second.

“I’m so,  _ so  _ sorry… Yushi’s just...protective...” Ruby looked back at her sister and grunted frustratedly, “Yushi...” and followed her.

Weiss stood there for a couple of seconds longer, stunned, before she clenched her hands into fists tightly, her manicured nails threatening to break the skin. She stormed off, an unseen tear streaking down her cheek… 

Blake looked between the three and found a flurry of emotions within herself: anger, surprise, fear, astonishment, hope, and...sadness? She looked up at the heiress as she marched past and back to the monkey Faunus who had laid down. A small smirk crossed her face before blowing out the candle.

_ It was a pleasure to meet the both of you, too. _

_...To be continued. _


	3. First Steps

It was the next day and the weather was clear and sunny. Ruby and Yushi were getting prepared and psyched up for the initiation- especially since they were in the starting group, Group A. Yushi hummed to herself as she looked at her belt of Dust grenades.

“Hey, Rubes?” the monkey Faunus asked, “Think I should bring another Dust grenade, just in case?” Ruby looked at her adopted sibling with a deadpan expression.

“I still have no idea why you have those things to begin with… Can’t you just use your Aura blasts?”

“Uh, besides the fact that explosions are awesome?” Yushi looked at Ruby like she grew a Beowolf head. “My Star-Novas may tend to get a little...messy. These allow me to make controlled and timable explosions.” Ruby nodded in concession. 

“If I had finger-lasers, I’d be all  _ pew-pew-pew _ -!” Ruby made laser noises while holding her hands out like a certain evil space emperor and shooting lightning out of her fingers, before Yushi interrupted her by rustling her hair.

Yushi chuckled, “Well, until that day comes, four or five grenades?” Ruby shrugged, after batting away the offending appendage.

“Five.” Right after, a ginger-haired girl and a magenta-eyed Mistralian boy passed the both of them, the former apparently talking about ‘sloth-calls’ while the later looking quite resigned to his fate of being around the girl. “Wonder what those two are so worked up about?” the sniper-scythe wielder asked out loud. Yushi shrugged in turn.

“Pre-showtime jitters?” The monkey-tailed girl eyed her sister with a sly smile, “You seem bright eyed and bushy tailed this mornin’.” Ruby’s smile practically beamed.

“Yup,” Ruby reached into the locker and pulled out Crescent Rose. “No more small talk or awkward stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking.” Yushi gave Ruby a worried look as the younger girl petted her weapon.

“Ruby, just...don’t go overboard, okay? Don’t be reckless out there...” Ruby gave her sister an unimpressed glare.

“Like what you do? All the time?” Yushi rolled her eyes and sighed.

“I can take the damage, you’re more of a glass cannon.”

“I can take care of myself--!”

“I’m not saying you can’t,” Yushi held her hands up in defense. “It’s just… Be careful, okay?” Ruby’s expression softened as she saw the older sibling’s concern, but rolled her eyes immediately.

“Sooo, don’t act like you. Got it.” The monkey Faunus just shook her head.

“Let’s go…” After a minute, Yushi continued, “Besides, you’re not the only one that’s gonna be out there, you know.”

“Ugh!” Ruby groaned, “Don’t remind me...”

“Sorry, Baby Sis,” Yushi shrugged, “but you’re gonna have to grow up and meet new people sometime.”

“First of all, I drink milk, and second, how does meeting people have anything to do with fighting?”

“This whole thing is to put us into teams, Rubes,” Yushi shrugged again, “like it or not.”

“Well,” Ruby looked away sheepishly, “can’t I be on your team? ...Or something...” Yushi scratched the back of her head.

“Maybe...you can be on someone else’s--” Ruby gave her sister a suspicious look.

“Yushi Xiao Long, are you implying that you don’t want to be on the same team as me?!” Yushi rolled her eyes.

“Of course I’d like to be, but we don’t know how the teams will be formed. What if you’re in a team all by yourself? I was trying to get you to meet new people yesterday to avoid that hellscape of awkwardness...” Ruby looked away from embarrassment. “Look on the bright side--”

“There’s a bright side?”

“As long as neither of us is going to be on a team with the Dutchess, we should be fine.”

“She’s not that bad...” Yushi gave a deadpan glare. “Okay, she’s kinda bad, but maybe she was just having a bad day, yesterday…?”

“She better of...” the brawler muttered.

/~/

Weiss’ memories of last night kept echoing in her head, along with memories from the past…

_ “...You’re a disappointment...” _

_ “...I suppose you’re not a complete disappointment, Weiss...” _

_ “...I hoped you would be different...” _

_ “...Do not become like you’re sister, Weiss! She has forsaken the Schnee name...” _

_ “...Better than the bastard that your father is...” _

_ “...You insolent little brat! I’ll teach you to defy me--!” _

Weiss shook the memories out of her head; she needed to focus on the initiation...and on assembling the perfect team. Weiss looked over, noticing that Pyrrha Nikos had closed her locker.

“So Pyrrha,” the heiress gave the gladiator a quick, disarming smile, “have you given any thought on whose team you’d like to be on? I’m sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well known individual, such as yourself.”

“Hmm...” Pyrrha looked to the side, awkwardly. “I’m not quite sure; I was planning to let the chips fall where they may.”

“Well, I was thinking we can be on a team together.”

“Well, that sounds grand!” Pyrrha said cheerfully. In her mind, though, she groaned… Weiss seemed okay enough- well, maybe not in the opinions of most of the Faunus on campus- but she didn’t want anyone to want to team up with her for her skills… She already had enough of that kind of attention as it was. She wanted a new start, an opportunity to become more than just the MRT Champion…

“Great!”

_ This will be perfect!  _ Weiss thought, _ The smartest girl combined with the strongest girl in class; together, we’ll be unstoppable! I can see it now: we’ll be popular, we’ll be celebrities, we’ll get perfect grades! Nothing can come between us now! And then I’ll show that pompous skank-- _

Jaune casually slid in between Pyrrha and Weiss and tried to give the heiress a suave look. “Do you know what else is great? Me, Jaune Arc, nice to meet you.” Weiss gave the clueless boy a withering look.

“You again?” Pyrrha leaned in front of her and gave a friendly wave.

“Nice to meet you, Jaune!” Jaune nudged her aside.

“Yeah, yeah… So, Weiss, I couldn’t help but overhear your fondness of me the other day...” Weiss could only hold her head in her hand as she felt a headache come on.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me--!” she groaned, both out loud and mentally.

_ Why am I surrounded by complete idiots… _

“Don’t worry,” Jaune continued, “no need to be embarrassed. So, been hearing rumors about teams~ I was thinking that you and me would make a good one, wad’ya say?”

“Actually,” Pyrrha interrupted, “I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so--”

“You don’t say…” Jaune scooted closer to Pyrrha. “Well, Hot Stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join the winning team.” Weiss sped to get in between the two.

“Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you’re talking to?”

“Not in the slightest, Snow Angel.”

“This is Pyrrha--”

“Hello again!” Pyrrha waved happily again.

“Pyrrha graduated at the top of her class at Sanctum.”

“Never heard of it.” Weiss looked indignant now.

“She’s won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row- a new record.” 

“The wha…?” But before the blanchette could blow her top, someone interrupted her incoming rant.

“Pyrrha Nikos a.k.a. the Invincible Girl. Won the Junior League Division Mistral Regional Tournament four times and beat the Major League champ two years running, Cerulean Cruise in less than five minutes after he called you out,” Yushi recalled, Ruby right beside her, who looked at the crimson-haired girl curiously. 

Pyrrha blinked at that; normally, she cringed when someone called her the ‘Invincible Girl,’ but she hadn’t thought about Cerulean in two years…

“You...remember that?” the ex-champion asked. She eyed the monkey-tailed Faunus closer… She was well built; she obviously took care of her body. Braces, greaves, shoulder armor, and stance all suggested that she was a close-range brawler. 

Yushi smirked at the girl in front of her. She knew a threat assessment when she saw one.

Weiss, on the other hand, glared up at the monkey-tailed girl, but then her face went slack. This ‘Yushi’ hadn’t looked at her since she had walked up. She was ignoring her! And before she knew it, Pyrrha- _ freaking _ -Nikos was looking at this neanderthal with...intrigue? This Faunus embarrassed her in front of everyone, ignored her, AND now she was stealing her (potential) partner!

“Of course,” Yushi answered. She took out her Scroll and found a sound byte. “I still have the noise he made when you flung his flaming, exploding tomahawks right back at him-- Oh! Here it is...” 

_ Clash-clash! “Aaaaaiiii-YAAA-haaa!!” KA-BOOOOOM!! _

Yushi then laughed, tears of joy in her eyes. “Man, that never gets old...”

“Yushi used that as her ringtone for the longest time...” Ruby explained when the crimson-haired girl looked blankly at the Scroll. “She’s been watching the MRT for as long as I can remember.” Pyrrha nodded slowly in realization.

“Big fan of yours, by the way,” Yushi added.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch your names,” the champion said as she held out her hand in greeting. Ruby quickly took and shook the appendage with surprising speed.

“I’m Ruby Rose and this is my big sister, Yushi Xiao Long.” Jaune comically looked up at the Faunus before looking back down at Ruby a few times, amazed by the height difference. Pyrrha, on the other hand, looked slightly downward and blinked a couple of times, as if trying to remember.

“‘Yushi Xiao Long?’” she asked herself out loud, “Where have I heard that name before?” Yushi looked surprised, before grinning sheepishly and scratching the back of her head.

“Well...” the monkey-tailed girl started, “I guess I am kinda famous around Patch...” 

Weiss scoffed to herself,  _ Right, just how famous could this cretin be-- _

“Wait,” Pyrrha said, her eyes widening, “Patch? As in you’re the Prodigy of Signal Academy?! You’re the girl that took on a Goliath without a weapon, fought a whole colony of Myrmidons, and killed three Deathstalkers all by yourself?!” The two other two teenagers in the room gaped at the Faunus, but when Ruby looked up at her sister…

Was she… Was Yushi blushing?!

“Not all at the same time, obviously,” Yushi said, coughing into her hand. “So, my reputation precedes me? That sucks...” Pyrrha nodded slowly.

“My manager said that several agencies tried to get into contact with you, and that I should learn your moveset, even though there’s only that one video...”

_ Dammit, Rojo… _

“Yeah, I got a lotta offers from combat tournament agencies and the other Academies...and other organizations. Hell, Atlas Academy sent me, like, five different offers, at least!” Pyrrha tilted her head in confusion.

“And you didn’t accept any of them?” Yushi shook her head. 

“Nah,” she replied while stretching, “they didn’t want me, just my skills to pay their bills. Mom, Dad, and Uncle Qrow all went to Beacon, too… Besides, I couldn’t handle all that celebrity bullshit. I have no idea how you did, though; you always looked so awkward in front of the camera...” Pyrrha blinked in surprise (again) at that.

_ She could tell? My manager hired the best acting coaches to make me look professional… _

Yushi then nudged Jaune, getting his attention before thumbing towards the spartan, “She’s also on the Pumpkin Pete cereal boxes.” Jaune gasped with amazement.

“That’s you?! They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!” Pyrrha somewhat blushed; not from being recognized, but by being recognized from such a mundane thing.

“Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly the cereal isn’t very good for you...” Weiss actually managed to get some words in.

“So, after hearing all of this,” the heiress said condescendingly, “do you really think you’re in a position to ask her to be on your team?” Jaune looked downcasted.

“I...guess not… Sorry.” 

Yushi hummed aloud, “Well,  _ none  _ of us know how teams will be made, so it could still happen.” Jaune perked up while Weiss gave a withering glare towards the Faunus, who just ignored her and made the blanchette even angrier. Pyrrha reassuringly gripped the blonde boy’s shoulder.

“You could even become a leader!” Jaune  _ really  _ perked up then.

“D’oh, stop it!” Weiss gave a pleading look towards Pyrrha.

“Seriously, please stop it...” She narrowed her eyes at the boy, “This kind of behavior should not be encouraged.” Jaune stepped in front of the heiress and gave a wink.

“Looks like Pyrrha and Yushi are on board for Team Jaune. Spots are filling up quickly... I’m not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you, whad'ya say?” Weiss backed away in irritation as he got closer. Then she snapped.

“Alright, that’s a bit too close-- Pyrrha, a little help please?!” Jaune was unceremoniously stuck unto the wall by Pyrrha’s rocket-propelled spear, Akouo.

“I’m sorry!” Pyrrha held her hand up cautiously as she apologized.

_ “Would Group A come to the Beacon Cliffs for initiation. I repeat, would Group A come to the Beacon Cliffs immediately.” _

Weiss rushed past the pinned boy as Pyrrha pulled her weapon out, dislodging Jaune from the wall.

“It was nice meeting you,” she said to Jaune and turned to the Faunus, “And you too, Yushi.” The brawler smirked back.

Jaune muttered, “Likewise...”

“Ditto, and if you ever need a sparrin’ partner, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m always down for a brawl.” Yushi said, making the spartan return the smile, nodded, and left to follow Weiss. The sisters looked down at Jaune as he slumped on the ground.

“‘Sup, Romeo?” Yushi sarcastically greeted the boy as Ruby helped him up.

“I don’t understand, my Dad said all women look for confidence. Where did I go wrong…?” The older sister huffed as she rolled her eyes.

“Dude, ladies do like confidence, but what they don’t like is a guy that’s pushy. Here’s a free tip from the source: girls like a guy who’s confident in who they are. As long as you be yourself- and not act like a prick- someone will notice. You can’t force these things.” Jaune blinked in surprise before giving a smirk.

“...Thanks.”

“No prob. Any more advice’ll cost you five Lien, though.”

“Yushi!” Ruby chastised her sister, who just snorted in amusement. “C’mon Jaune, let’s go.”

/~/

All of Group A stood on the Beacon Cliffs, facing the expansive forest below. Each teenager stood on a tile, listening with rapt attention. Yushi looked over to her left and saw Ruby, grinning from ear to ear, and Jaune, who looked less than comfortable standing so close to the edge…

“For years, you’ve trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest,” Ozpin said.

Yushi looked over to the boy on her right that was just an inch shy of looking at her eye to eye. He caught her looking and gave a disgusted sneer. Yushi returned it with an unimpressed glare of her own.

_ Great, _ Yushi thought to herself as she looked back at the professors,  _ first a snobby Duchess and now a Douchebag in Shining Armor… _ Though she did see, with amusement, how the heiress was as far away from her as possible, but still stuck around Pyrrha.

“Now,” Professor Goodwitch continued, “I’m sure many of you’ve heard rumors on the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today.”

Ruby squeaked, “What?!”

“These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon,” Ozpin went on, “so it is in your best to be paired with someone who you can work well with.” Ruby groaned to herself again. “That being said, the first person that you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.” Yushi could practically hear Ruby’s mind shatter like glass… 

“WHAT!?” The hyperactive ginger nudged her friend.

“See? I told you--!”

“After you’ve partnered up,” Ozpin continued, “make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do  _ not  _ hesitate to destroy everything in your path--” Yushi grinned viciously after hearing that… “--or you will die.” Jaune gulped nervously.

“You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?”

“Yeah...” Jaune cautiously began, “Um, sir--?” But strangely, Ozpin ignored him.

“Good. Now, take your positions.” Yushi went into a crouch, balanced on the balls of her heels, and held her hands in front of her as everyone else unfolded their weapons and got ready for what was about to happen next.

“Uh, sir? I got, um,” Jaune tried getting the professor’s attention again, tentatively holding a hand up, “a question.” Weiss was springboarded high into the air.

“So this...landing strategy-thing...a wha-what is it? You’re like, dropping us off, or something?”

“No. You will be falling.”

“Oh, I see… So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?” The ginger girl took off into the sky in excitement.

“No. You will be using your own landing strategy.”

“Uh-huh...” 

Yushi winked at Ruby before saying, “Good luck, Baby Sis!” Jaune looked at the two as she was flung into the air. “WHOOOHOOOO!!” Then Ruby got launched.

“So what exactly is a landing strateg _ yyyyyyyyyy _ !!” Jaune screamed his lungs out as he was flung into the air.

Ozpin merely sipped his hot cocoa as he looked on in amusement.

/~/

Yushi soared through the air, a wide grin on her face. But not too wide, she didn’t want a repeat of last time… Yushi had tried to retch that bug out for two hours… 

She fired another Aura pulse from her palms and feet, a technique that she called a Star-Boost, which carried her further, just above the canopy line. She loved this: the wind in her hair, the blood pumping in her veins--

“And again!” Yushi said as she used another Star-Boost. The brawler had lessened the amount of force of the boost, causing her to descend into the forest below. She crashed through some leaves and bounced from tree to tree slowly-- Er… Well, maybe not exactly ‘slowly…’ She descended to the ground, landing with a practiced roll. Yushi slowed down and looked behind her to admire her handiwork.

“The judges score it a ten-outta-ten!” she panted. Yushi turned right around and started to jog, hoping to find her sister.

/~/

Weiss grumbled as she nearly tripped over another tree root. There was a reason she wasn’t an outdoorsy person…

“Dammit...” To be completely honest, she was more preoccupied about what had happened before more than with her current situation. Something that she knew she should stop doing, but everytime her mind wandered, the fencer couldn’t help but think about that Faunus girl… 

_ Damn that stupid, arrogant, top-heavy ape!  _ Something about her just pissed her off. Not that she was a Faunus; it was something else… Weiss shook her head.  _ I’m not and I’ll never be like him! That’s the reason that I’m here! To bring honor back to the Schnee name! _

The heiress proudly stepped forward, as if she had done just that already, but stopped as she remembered the faces of the other Faunus last night… But Faunus couldn’t be trusted! They all worked for the White Fang, and if they didn’t, they would eventually, if given enough time. They attacked her family, tried to attack her… 

Weiss heard some rustling in the underbrush. She gripped Myrtenaster’s handle, ready for anything that this miserable forest could throw at her… Except for one.

Crystal blue eyes met silver as Ruby skidded to a stop in front of the heiress. They had made eye contact. They were partners now.

…

Ruby tried with a gentle smile… Weiss immediately turned towards the other direction and walked away. Surprised, Ruby tried to call out to the heiress.

“Wait--! Where are you going?!” The young reaper deflated as she was left alone. “We’re supposed to be teammates...”

Weiss tumbled through some more brush before finding Jaune still stuck in a tree, his hoodie speared through by Pyrrha’s...spear. The blonde boy stopped struggling as she looked up at him. He waved sheepishly, hoping that she would help him down, but was ultimately disappointed.

Weiss trudged back to Ruby, and snagging her red cloak, said, “By no means does this make us friends...” Ruby shot her arms straight out and smiled as she was dragged along.

“You came back!”

_...To be continued. _


	4. Emerald Forest

Yushi walked through the somewhat dense foliage of the Emerald Forest. The air was getting a bit hazy, but nothing to be concerned about. 

“Olly olly oxen free! Can anyone who isn’t a dink come out and partner up with me?” the brawler shouted into the air, hoping to get someone’s attention. Well, hopefully not  _ everyone’s  _ attention… The last thing she needed was to be paired up with Weiss or that tall jerk from before. 

Yushi sighed to herself, “Why couldn’t Coral or Rojo be in the same group as me?” Who else…? 

Ruby would be a pretty good partner, sure, but she wanted someone new to get to know. Jaune didn’t seem like a bad guy, but...he probably wasn’t the best in a fight. Yushi could train him, but that was work that she didn’t want to invest in. 

Pyrrha- _ freaking _ -Nikos would probably be the best partner to get, to be honest. Smart, strong, and beautiful to boot, though she didn’t seem to like having her fame brought up…which Yushi could understand. 

Blake was cool...or at least Yushi thought she was cool. Y’know, cool like one of those quiet, mysterious types. Kinda hard to decipher, since they liked their alone time and Blake didn’t seem like the exception.

Yushi hummed to herself as she thought over whether Blake would make a good partner or not, until she heard something move through some brush. She immediately stopped and glanced towards the direction that it had come from. Yushi tried to use her Aura sense towards that area, but felt nothing. Either that meant it was just her imagination or Grimm. At least Grimm were fun to punch…

“Well, if it’s a person, then they can’t blame me if I accidentally break an arm thinking it belonged to a Grimm...” More brush rustled from eight o’clock. Yushi spun on her heel towards the noise. She gave a devious smirk as she tip-toed to the brush, ready to jump scare whoever it was.

“Aaaaand gotcha!” Yushi shouted as she partially leapt out of the brush, then blinked a couple of times and looked up. “Well, poop...” The black and white figure snorted angrily as it tried to cave her head in, but Yushi Star-Boosted in front of her, sending herself backwards.

Yushi took position with raised arms, tail wrapped around her waist, and knees bent as the Grimm walked out into the open. It was tall and graceful looking, but no less dangerous. It walked on four cloven feet and legs, its body was more built for running than power, and it’s head sat on a medium length neck. Two pairs of angry red eyes looked down at Yushi. Bone armor covered it’s head, the back of its neck, chest, and front legs.

It was a Blackhart. A Blackhart Prince, to be exact, as a large pair of antlers sprung from it’s bone-covered head. 

The deer-like Grimm snorted again as several more creatures walked out of the foliage, these being younger, antlerless Blackharts. As the Grimm had somewhat surrounded the Huntress-in-training, she formed two Aura spheres on the ends of her fists.

“...”

…

“Are you guys gonna go first or…?” 

The elder Grimm screamed like an elk and two of the younger Blackharts charged forward, trying to clobber Yushi with their hooves. She weaved easily as she dodged the Blackhart that came from the left and punched it, the sphere crushing the Grimm’s body against it, also known as a Star-Punch. The creature bleated painfully as it flew into a tree, dissolving away when it’s spine snapped. 

Yushi then fired the right hand’s Aura sphere as a Star-Blast at the second Blackhart as it moved past her. The younger Grimm was knocked down to the ground by the force of the blast. It tried to get back up, but the hole created by the attack in it’s upper right side made it near-impossible. 

Before it died, though, the Blackhart Prince decided to charge the monkey-tailed girl. Yushi grinned as she easily dodged the razor sharp antlers to the right with a couple of quick Star-Boosts.

“Hah!” The Faunus girl said, “You couldn’t hit the broad side of a...barn...” Yushi had noticed a piece of green and black fabric pierced on one of the antler’s points, making her pause. She quickly looked to her sides and found a hole ripped into her jacket. She then gave the Grimm a glare to end all glares.

“You asshole! Do you have  _ any  _ idea how LONG that took me to sow all by myself?!” Yushi’s jade green Aura flared around her in anger. The elder Grimm tilted its head curiously before ultimately snorting and digging a cloven hoof in the ground.

The Blackhart Prince charged again, but was stopped dead in its tracks by Yushi grabbing a hold of its antlers. Gritting her teeth in anger- not effort- Yushi lifted the Grimm and swung it around herself, knocking away the four younger Blackharts that tried to seize the opportunity when she had her hands full.

The Huntress-in-training heard a snap as she spun the Grimm around again and let go, hurtling it into a stone outcrop. The Blackhart elk-screamed in pain as it’s body collided and crushed the rocks, leaving it’s left antler in Yushi’s hand. The young Faunus activated the mechashift function of the left Berserk Sentry bracer, transforming it into it’s submachine gun mode. 

The grey and black bracer shifted around Yushi’s hand, while the grip and trigger formed in it, leaving most of the body and stock still attached to her wrist and arm. The front part of the SMG’s body formed over her hand, with the short barrel sliding out and the reflex sight and ammo counter popping up on top. Yushi immediately loaded a magazine of Burn Dust and fired where the elder Grimm had landed, eliciting another scream.

One of the younger Blackharts charged her, but she stabbed it’s unprotected chest with the antler. Yushi reloaded the left Berserk Sentry with a magazine of Lightning Dust right before another Blackhart rushed in. Yushi dodged by boosting into the air and fired the automatic gun, causing the cervine Grimm to collapse, paralyzed by the electricity. 

Another Blackhart attacked by rearing up with its front legs, but Yushi dodged to the right and sent it flying, and hitting a few trees, with a Star-Punch into its side. The fourth Grimm tried to double donkey kick the Faunus, but Yushi grabbed one of the legs and slammed it into the ground, on the other side of her, and made a deer-shaped crater, before shooting it in the neck with Berserk Sentry.

The next Blackhart received another Star-Punch, but to the head, crushing it’s skull. The last two came in together and tried to pincer her, but Yushi dodged by Star-Boosting in the air and flung a small, explosive Aura sphere, a Star-Nova, onto the ground. She Star-Boosted away in midair before the small explosion destroyed the front halves of the deer-like Grimm.

Yushi whipped right around, ready to deliver a Star-Punch to the Blackhart Prince that tried a sneak attack, but before anything happened, it fell over with a grunt and began to dissolve into the air. Blinking in surprise, Yushi looked up from the Grimm and saw the bow-accessorized girl from before, Blake, looking back at her with amber eyes and a smirk. The monkey Faunus looked back down at the Grimm, to her empowered fist, and then back to Blake.

Yushi shook her right hand, dissipating the Aura sphere harmlessly, before saying, “I coulda taken him.” Blake raised an eyebrow at that. They then turned to look behind as they heard a pained bleat from a Blackhart, the one that Yushi had paralyzed with a hail of Lightning Dust bullets.

“Oh, right,” Yushi said to herself before blasting a hole through the Grimm, killing it instantly. “There, that makes nine.” Blake turned from the Blackhart, and the hole that now occupied where it’s sides had been, back to Yushi.

“What was that?” Blake asked the Faunus girl, eyeing her up and down. Yushi looked back and gave her own smirk.

“My Semblance, called Aura Blast, lets me form my Aura into various shapes, but I usually make spheres or energy blasts with it.” Blake looked at her with a worried expression, worrying what would happen if the monkey Faunus used her Semblance too much before her Aura replenished itself.

“Is that...safe?” Yushi got her meaning immediately, somewhat expecting it, and nodded.

“I have a butt-load of Aura, so I really don’t worry about it,” she tried to wave the problem off. “Besides, that's why I have these!” Yushi showed off both Berserk Sentries, having mechashifted both of them into their SMG mode, and crossing them across her chest, as if she was trying to look like some kind of gangster wannabe. Blake tried to stifle a laugh, which caused it to come out as another smirk.

“Hah!” Yushi laughed, “I knew I could get something outta you!” The brawler extended her hand and introduced herself, “Yushi Xiao Long, from Patch. I like punching stuff, listening to rock an’ roll, joking around, and eating- and no, I don’t like bananas. You?”

Blake mentally groaned to herself. This was the opposite kind of person that she wanted to partner with: loud, short tempered, and punch-drunk. Though, she wasn’t an idiot or a novice. Blake had watched her fight: this ‘Yushi’ knew how to dodge and weave and when to strike. She knew her strengths and weaknesses and adapted her fighting style around them. And then there was how she handled the Schnee girl last night…

The ex-White Fang member took the extended hand and shook it, “Blake Belladonna--” but stopped when she saw Yushi’s expression. The fighter scrunched her face, trying to remember…

“Belladonna…?” Blake’s eyes widened before schooling herself and letting go of the hand.

_ Dammit! _ Blake mentally chastised herself,  _ Of course she’d know about my Father! What Faunus didn’t? _ She stopped her train of thought when she saw Yushi lightly shake her head.

“What?” The dark-haired girl cautiously dared a question.

“Nothin’...” Yushi replied with another head shake, “Thought I heard that name somewhere before… Must’ve been my imagination. You were sayin’?”

“O-oh! Um… Just that I like to read--”

“Whad’ya like to read?” Blake’s mind instantly went to her collection of  _ Ninjas of Love _ collection, volumes one to eight, making her almost blush.

“Whatever seems interesting...” Yushi scratched her cheek before looking around.

“Uh… Do you know which way’s north?” Blake blinked a couple of times before pointing to her left. “Sweet! Lead the way, Blakey.” The monkey-tailed girl flourished her hands in front of her towards their objective, like some sort of fancy presenter. Blake rolled her eyes at the display before heading north, with Yushi beside her.

/~/

“Hmm...” Glynda narrowed her eyes at the video screen, at Yushi, contemplating--

“Is there something the matter, Glynda?” Ozpin asked his deputy headmistress. She looked up and saw that his eyes were on her, with a knowing smirk on his face, as he had watched the fight as well. Glynda huffed to herself.

“Yushi Xiao Long performed admirably against the herd of Blackharts--”

“Except?”

“ _ Except _ …” Glynda glared at the headmaster, making sure that there weren’t anymore interruptions, ”that she was overconfident and became sloppy, then almost let her anger get the better of her. Again.”

“And that is why we are here, at Beacon,” Ozpin consoled her, “to teach her how to move past those flaws and improve; to become the best Huntress that she can become.”

“I had thought that she had already moved past the last time that I had seen her...” Ozpin raised a brow.

“Wasn’t she eleven, then?” That earned him another glare. “Children do tend to forget their lessons the first time...” Glynda sighed out loud as she couldn’t refute what he had said.

“Maybe I’m just putting too much expectation on her...”

“You don’t think she can handle it?” 

“Of course she can,” Glynda said, shaking her head. “She has the best combat instincts, mid-battle analytics, and physical capabilities of any student that I had ever met, but her flaws… They could end up getting her killed.”

“So, you’re worried about your ‘protégé?’” Ozpin asked, using the nickname that Qrow had teased her with whenever she had visited the Xiao Long-Rose home, and semi-reluctantly somewhat-trained Yushi in her childhood. Glynda gave him another glare.

“Sometimes I wonder whose side you’re on...” Ozpin turned back to the screen, chuckling and sipping his cup of hot cocoa.

“It is not a weakness to care for our charges,” he countered. She had nothing to counter with, so she sighed and looked to check on another student.

“Our last pair has formed, sir.” Ozpin nodded as he looked on, though what she had said was on his mind. Her combat abilities, where she had come from… Ozpin’s instincts- instincts that had developed over centuries- told him something wasn’t right… Against his better judgement, and without any proof, he ignored them for now.

For what he was doing, now, was watching Ruby and Weiss… Well, it sure wasn’t getting along… as he half-listened to the combat instructor.

/~/

Yushi and Blake walked further north and closer to their goal. Or at least Yushi hoped… She was garbage at directions. So far it had been quiet; no real sign of any fellow applicants or Grimm. Or Ruby… The monkey-tailed girl huffed to herself again.

“Are you sure--”

“Yes Yushi, for the sixth time, I have not seen Ruby,” Blake deadpanned, making her new partner cringe somewhat.

“Only child, huh?” Blake nodded. Yushi didn’t try to pry anything more about her partner’s family, since she had locked herself like a vault when she had asked before. “I worry about her, because I love her, and it’s my job to be there.” 

Blake nodded again, understanding, but pointed out, “You know you can’t be there for her forever, right?” Yushi sighed.

“I know, it’s just… I know...” A couple minutes passed when she spoke again, “Is it too much to ask the universe for the Duchess to not be her partner?” Blake couldn’t help but snicker.

“You did well last night.”

“Yeah, I did well not to punch her. I can’t imagine doing that every night for the next four years...” Yushi groaned. “No one has that kind of patience!” Blake started to trail somewhat behind as she thought to herself.

What would  _ she  _ do if she was roommates with the Schnee girl? What if she was her partner, not Yushi? The thought unnerved and amused her at the same time. An ex-White Fang member, who was also the daughter of Ghira Belladonna himself, being partnered to the heiress to the richest, most Faunus-subjugative corporation in the world? She didn’t know if that was a bit too on the nose for it to be ironic or not…

Now behind Yushi, Blake saw her Faunus trait, her monkey tail, and looked at it as the cat Faunus walked. The tail swayed back and forth, like it had no care in the world. 

Curious as to why Blake wasn’t next to her, Yushi looked over and noticed what the raven-haired girl was so transfixed on. A devious smile crept across her face. The monkey Faunus stopped, untied the jacket tied around her waist, and held it in front of her as she jutted her butt out just so, slightly swaying her hips.

“See something ya like, Blakey?”

Blake also stopped, and looked up to see the flirty smirk and the wiggling eyebrows on Yushi’s face. She looked back at the tail, before noticing her moving backside, then shot her face back to Yushi’s, finally understanding what she had meant. Blake quickly turned her face, a vivid blush on her cheeks. 

“I-- That wasn’t-- I don’t--” Yushi laughed at her flustering, which made Blake scowl at the brawler. “Are you like this all the time?” she asked angrily. Yushi held her hands up defensively.

“Hey, you were the one that was staring, or didja forget?”

“I wasn’t looking  _ there _ , I was looking at your tail,” Blake elaborated. Yushi quirked an eyebrow.

“Haven’t had much experience with Faunus, then?” Blake shook her head.

“I have, it’s just… You’re so open with your Faunus heritage. I’ve mostly seen other Faunus try to keep attention away from themselves and you seem to do the opposite.” 

“It’s just a part of me,” Yushi shrugged as she answered the unspoken question of ‘why.’ “If someone wants to be a dink about it, without trying to get to know the real me, then that’s their problem. If they get in my face, though, I’d probably just break their nose. Any other time, it doesn’t bother me.”

Blake looked at her curiously, and slightly astonished, and asked, “Then why did you confront Weiss Schnee about it?” Yushi folded her arms across her chest, since she had tied her jacket back around her waist, and looked a little miffed.

“Because she insinuated that whatever she thought was wrong with Ruby was my fault.  _ That  _ wasn’t gonna fly on my watch.”

_ Note to self, _ Blake thought,  _ always be nice to Ruby…  _ The amber-eyed girl began to walk again, which Yushi quickly followed beside her. 

“So, you were actually ‘disappointed’ in her?” Blake asked.

“I was,” the monkey Faunus admitted, her hands behind her head. “I honestly hoped that she was different than what I’d heard.” Blake blinked a couple of times, astonished again.

“But...you knew that she was a Schnee, but hoped anyway?” Yushi shrugged again.

“I like to judge people by how they act, not by their reputation. Besides,” Yushi glanced over at her partner, catching her eye, “if I did do that, then I’d be no better than the racists that believe all of the Faunus stereotypes, right?”

That caught Blake off guard, enough so that she stopped again. Why didn’t she think of that before? It made sense, but… It couldn’t be that simple, right? Yushi looked back at her again, with a raised brow. 

“Unless you want me to start shaking my ass again...” Blake was about to retort, but her hidden cat ears picked up the sound of a twig snapping. Swiveling her head towards the noise, her hand gripped Gambol Shroud’s handle. Yushi, in turn, immediately mechashifted both Berserk Sentries into their SMG mode.

“Did you hear that?” Blake asked, but Yushi shook her head. 

“Back to back,” the brawler more or less suggested, but they followed through immediately, their backs close to each other. Yushi had her right arm up while the left Berserk Sentry was still out, just in case. Blake looked around, subtly using her feline ears to hear anything else, and her hand was still on Gambol Shroud’s handle.

“Lemme try something,” Yushi said as she held her right hand out. 

“What are you doing?” Blake asked as she kept her eyes towards the trees.

“Checking to see what it was.” Blake thought that over a second before barely looking towards her partner.

“You can use Aura sensing?” Yushi nodded.

“Yup. Picked it up from a blind ol’ man. He was nice...” Yushi’s brows furrowed as she felt nothing. “Either you misheard, or we have Grimm somewhere...” Blake tightened her grip on her weapon.

“Here, take this,” Yushi whispered as she tried to subtly hand her a grenade.

“What is it?”

“Dust grenade--” But before she could finish her sentence, a large dark form leaped out of the foliage at them, but more towards the monkey Faunus as she seemed to be more distracted. Yushi smirked as she saw it come towards her. She pulled the both of them down, to Blake’s surprise, making the Grimm sail right over them.

The two quickly got up and faced the creature. The Grimm was, more or less, jaguar-like, but with a few key differences: it had bat-like ears, a pair of wing-like fins that helped it somewhat glide mid-pounce, and two blade-like claws on its forelegs. The beast had a surprisingly little amount of armor on it, probably because it prefered to ambush rather than fight victims.

It was an Umbranther, and a rather large one at that. The Grimm snarled as it turned back around, glaring it’s five red eyes at the two Huntresses-in-training, which Yushi returned with an excited grin… 

“Dammit,” Blake growled, pulling Yushi back down to Remnant. “Have you ever fought an Umbranther before?”

_ Shit, _ Yushi thought to herself.  _ Can’t go all out with Blake here… _ That was the main thing about partners that Yushi didn’t particularly like; the idea of someone who was supposed to have your back sounded great, but that also meant that she couldn’t go nuts and punch or blast Grimm willy-nilly.

“...No,” Yushi finally answered. “My uncle talked about ‘em once. They’re loners, so we should be okay.” Yushi slowly separated from Blake, but still kept her eyes on the Grimm as it slowly circled the two, with Blake following suit. After a minute into the staredown… “Do you have that grenade?”

“Yes,” Blake answered. “Do you have a plan?” Yushi shook her head.

“Not really. Just an idea for me to do something stupid.” Blake’s expression became uncertain.

“What is it?”

“What do you know about wrestlin’?” Blake was confused by the question.

“You mean besides that it’s fake?” Yushi rolled her eyes.

“Of course it’s fake, but that isn’t what I mean.” The Umbranther snarled at them. “When I pin it, use the grenade.”

“Wait, what?!” But instead of answering, Yushi ran towards the Grimm. As the beast pounced, the monkey Faunus slid under using a Star-Boost from her feet. Under it, she pointed her weapon up towards it’s undersides and unloaded the magazine. The Grimm tumbled onto the ground, losing it’s motor functions, while being electrocuted.

Yushi turned around and was about to pin the Umbranther, but Blake beat her to it and sliced through the back of the Grimm’s neck, killing it instantly. Yushi nodded her head approvingly.

“Well, I guess that’s the other way of doing it...” Blake gave her partner a questioning scowl.

“Then what was your plan?” Yushi shrugged.

“I pin it down and open its mouth, you come in and stuff the grenade down it’s pie hole, and we run…?” Blake gaped at the girl, imagining the myriad of different ways that could have gone wrong.

“That was your plan?!” Yushi held up her hand defensively.

“I did say it was less of a plan and more of an idea for me to do something stupid.” Yushi scratched the back of her head partly apologetically, “Look on the bright side: we didn’t need my idea and we got to keep the grenade!” 

Before she could make a retort, Blake saw Yushi’s expression change to shock as another Umbranther pounced from the dark foliage behind the dark-haired girl and attempted to take her head. Yushi was flung away as the creature pushed her aside, which she quickly recovered from.

“BLAKE!” Yushi was worried and angry, but she was mostly confused. One second, Blake was there, and the next, there was a dark copy of the girl where she was standing, right before it got shredded.

Yushi turned her head, and after a second, found Blake crouching as she held her weapon and stared down the Grimm, a couple feet from where she stood before. Yushi blinked a couple of times.

“What the shit was that?!” the monkey Faunus exclaimed. Blake looked from the Umbranther, to her partner, and back again.

“Shadow, my Semblance, makes a copy of me when I’m about to get hit, taking the damage I would have. I thought your uncle said that Umbranthers hunted alone.” Yushi turned towards the Grimm and gave it a look that was nothing less than murderous.

“He did,” Yushi said calmly right before her Aura flared around her like a giant, green flame. The flared Aura was much larger than what Yushi accomplished before with the Blackharts, Blake noted. “This shitbag’s mine!” Yushi yelled as she rushed forward.

“Wait!” the bow-accessorized girl tried to call out, but it was too late. The Umbranther reared back on its hind legs, ready to strike the Huntress-in-training, but Yushi stopped just short of it. 

She held her arms back, thrusted them forward, and yelled. The flame-like Aura shot out from around the brawler like a blowtorch, scorching the Grimm and making it careen backwards, yowling in pain. Yushi strode up to the Umbranther calmly as it laid on the ground, looking quite crispy from the Star-Flare attack. 

She readied two Star-Punches, but the Umbranther, without warning, pulled its upper body up for another attempted strike. Yushi was ready, though, and easily Star-Punched the burnt paw off of the Grimm with a right hook. It lunged its fanged jaws forward, but the brawler countered it head-on with a left downward Star-Punch, shattering the creature’s skull.

After a moment of breathing to calm herself down, Yushi said, “There, I’d like to see ya do that again, dink...” The brawler looked back and cringed as she saw Blake’s expression; shocked and uneasy with a bit of awe. Yushi scratched the back of her head, actually apologetic this time.

“Sorry you had to see that,” the monkey Faunus said. “I’m not an angry person, really. It’s just...I thought for sure that you were...y’know...” Yushi moved her thumb across her throat, in obvious symbolism. “I guess I don’t like to see people getting hurt, especially if I could’ve done something about it...” Blake nodded.

“I guess that I could have told you about my Semblance before...” 

_ At least she’s not like Adam, _ Blake thought.  _ Lashing out at everything and everyone because of hatred… _ Hearing her chuckle took the dark-haired girl out of her thoughts.

“Y’know what they say, ‘coulda, shoulda, woulda,’” Yushi shrugged, wanting to move past this awkwardness as soon as possible. “So, where’s north this time?” Blake took out her compass and pointed in front of her. Yushi facepalmed… “A compass? I knew I forgot to pack somethin’!” 

Blake closed her eyes and shook her head slowly before they walked towards the indicated direction. After a minute, Yushi lightly elbowed her partner, getting her attention.

“That is a really cool Semblance, though.” Blake looked up at her with a raised brow, to which Yushi continued, “I mean, if I was you, I’d be a literal  _ Shadow _ -boxer!” The monkey Faunus dodged and punched the air in front of her for emphasis as Blake rolled her eyes, but smirked nonetheless, at her lame pun.

/~/

After a while, the two finally came upon a series of structures that at least seemed like ancient ruins. They looked down at a circular stone base that was surrounded by a mostly deteriorated wall from the ledge that they stood on. There were five pillars left standing, holding up what was left of a ring-like structure. Under it stood twenty pedestals where the relics stood.

Yushi looked to her partner with a raised eyebrow. “If this isn’t it, then I don’t know what is...” and proceeded to skid down the slope. Blake followed, but more cautiously.

Once they had entered the ruins and had a look around, they inspected the ‘relics’ that they were supposed to get. 

“Chess pieces?” Blake questioned out loud, which Yushi answered with a shrug.

“I doubt the Museum of Valean Natural History would just give the headmaster priceless artifacts for a bunch of teenagers to probably break.” Yushi eyed a few pedestals that were empty. “Looks like we weren’t the first to get here, either...”

“Well, I guess we should just pick one.” Yushi grabbed a golden knight and eyed it.

“Y’know, I never understood why the called the horse ones the ‘knights.’” Blake turned to her and gave her a raised brow.

“Because knights rode on horseback?” Yushi gave her a deadpan expression in return.

“Yeah, but knights aren’t famous for riding horses; if that was the case, wouldn’t they just call the pieces ‘cavalrymen?’” 

“Maybe a horse was the easiest design they could make?”

“Wouldn’t a miniature sword and shield be easier than a horse head, though?” Blake was scowling at the brawler now.

“Yushi, are you going to pick the knight or not?” Yushi shrugged before tossing the relic in the air and catching it.

“Horsey it is then. That wasn’t too bad!”

“It’s not like this place isn’t too hard to find...”

In the distance, the two heard the most high pitched scream they had ever heard. Yushi whipped right around, trying to find the source of the scream.

“Was that a girl just know?” Yushi turned her head to her partner, but Blake wasn’t paying attention. Instead, she was looking up in disbelief and worry. “Whatcha you lookin’ at?” Blake pointed up.

“I just found Ruby.” Yushi whipped her head right around, just in time to see Ruby fall right towards the two.

“Incoming!”

_...To be continued. _


	5. Knights and Rooks

“Whatcha you looking at?” Yushi asked and Blake pointed upwards in response.

“I just found Ruby.” Yushi whipped her head right around, just in time to see Ruby fall right towards the two.

“Incoming!” yelled the younger sister, but before she could impact the ground, Jaune- from out of seemingly nowhere- collided with her, sending them both into a tree.

Shaking off her dizziness in the tree, Ruby mumbled to herself, “What was that?” Then a cough grabbed her attention and she saw Jaune hanging upside down off of a branch.

“Hey Ruby...” he said.

Back on the ground…

Blake looked up into the tree in astonishment and concern. “Did your sister just fall from the sky?” Yushi could only blink in response.

A loud roaring came from the forest, alongside a couple of trees crashing as a large Ursa collapsed in front of the two. On it was the energetic ginger girl from before. She tumbled forward and looked back at her unwilling steed with a forlorn expression.

“Aww, it’s broken...” Then at an impossible speed, she was standing on it as it dissolved into the air. “Ewww...”

Her friend/victim, the Mistralian boy with the pink eyes, stumbled out of the woods and leaned against a tree, clearly out of breath.

“Nora...” he said, “Please, never do that again...” But she had pseudo-teleported towards the ruins.

“Ooooo!” she looked at a golden rook. She swiped it, put it on her head, and proceeded to sing. “I’m queen of the castle! I’m queen of the castle--!”

“NORA!!” the boy yelled, giving the ginger a start, but soon recovered with a salute, of all things.

“Coming Ren!” Blake and Yushi stared at her incredulously.

“Did that girl come riding in on an Ursa…?” But before Yushi could comment, another crash came from the forest as Pyrrha Nikos ran through with a Deathstalker on her tail, roaring and snapping it’s pincers.

“Jaune!” she yelled as the gladiator dodged several swipes.

“Pyrrha!” the blonde boy said as he dangled from the tree.

“Whoa!” exclaimed Ruby, before she got up and out of the tree. Jaune tried to call out to the little reaper… 

“Ruby!” ...But to no avail. Ruby softened the landing with a roll and stood upright.

“Ruby?!” exclaimed Yushi, which was met with an ecstatic Ruby.

“Yushi?!” The two were just about to give each other a sisterly hug, until--

“NORA!” The ginger from before popped in between the two, effectively ruining the moment. Yushi promptly picked the girl up by the back of her shirt into the air, giving her an unimpressed look. Nora looked back, fluttering her eyes at the larger girl innocently, until a cough took Yushi’s attention.

The Mistralian boy looked up at the brawler and raised a brow, asking an unspoken question. Yushi dropped Nora besides the boy, to which she hugged him.

“My hero!”

“She really needs to lay off the sugar...” Yushi stated to the boy, apparently named Ren, as he sighed.

“I know...”

Blake stared at the still running and dodging Pyrrha and asked, “Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?” 

“It appears so,” Ren answered.

“And what else is gonna happen?” Yushi asked sarcastically...and was answered by Ruby, who tugged on her jacket. The monkey-tailed Faunus hung her head in defeat. Everyone who wasn’t running for their lives, stuck in a tree, or trying to calm down, looked up and saw Weiss hanging off of a giant Nevermore. 

“Why did you leave me?!” shouted the heiress. Yushi looked up and then narrowed her eyes at Ruby.

“I toldja riding a Nevermore was a bad idea!” Ruby huffed and crossed her arms.

“Well, you get to fly!”

“I don’t ride Nevermores!!” Blake tilted her head to the left.

“She’s going to fall...” 

“She’ll be fine,” Ruby reassured her.

“She’s falling,” commented Ren.

Back in the tree, Jaune finally managed to untangle himself, and at seeing Weiss fall, grinned to himself. This was his chance! This was his opportunity to do something heroic and impress Weiss! He leaped with all of his might, catching her mid-air. She looked up at him as he gave her a suave smirk and wink.

“Just ‘dropping in?’” he said smoothly. The Ice Queen looked down, which made him look down, which then made gravity work again, sending them both into the dirt. Jaune did manage to cushion Weiss’ fall, if nothing else… 

“My hero...” Weiss said dryly as Pyrrha was still running for her life.

“My...back...” Jaune managed to croak out. The group watched as Pyrrha got slammed hard and was sent flying, right towards the group’s feet.

“Are we gonna do something or…?” asked Yushi.

“Way ahead of you, Sis,” Ruby answered as she ran towards the Grimm.

“Ruby, wait!” But the red-hooded girl mechashifted Crescent Rose and launched herself towards the scorpion-like Grimm with a gunshot. The Deathstalker easily knocked her aside with it’s pincer.

Ruby got up and said, “D-don’t worry! Totally fine!” She turned around and saw the Grimm peer over her. She fired away at its face, but the bone-like armor was way too tough. Yushi’s fist clenched even more.

_ She’s gonna get hurt! _ Yushi thought.  _ No, she needs to fight her own fights… But against a Deathstalker?! Especially one that seemed to be this old… She needs to regroup! _ As if hearing her sister’s thoughts, Ruby ran from the ancient Grimm as it gave chase. 

“Dammit!” Yushi yelled as she rushed forward, ready to give her sister covering fire. The Nevermore screeched on high, having spotted the younger Huntress-in-training and began to pursue. It flung a myriad of feathers, simultaneously pinning Ruby’s cloak and cutting off Yushi.

“Get outta there!” Yushi yelled. She wanted to blast them away, but she could’ve hit Ruby… 

“I’m trying!” Ruby answered as she tried to get herself free. She looked up and saw that the Deathstalker had caught up with her and readied it’s stinger. Before Yushi could yell as the stinger came down, a white blur flew past her.

Weiss Schnee, of all people, had managed to save Ruby by freezing the Deathstalker’s tail mid-sting.

“You are so childish!” the heiress scolded as Ruby slowly opened her eyes. 

“...Weiss?”

“And dimwitted, and hyperactive, and don’t even get me started on your fighting style...” Weiss glared down at the younger girl, before it softened. “And I suppose...I can be a bit...difficult. But if we’re going to do this, we’re going to have to do this together, so if you quit trying to show off, I’ll be...nicer.”

“I’m not trying to show off,” Ruby said, defending herself, “I want you to know I can do this.” Weiss rolled her eyes.

“You’re fine.”

Ruby sighed and whispered to herself, “Not awesome...” The red-hooded girl got up and gawked at the sight of the Deathstalker struggling to get itself free, at least Yushi came up to her, turned Ruby around, and gave her a death-squeeze.

“Yushi,” Ruby mumbled from her sister’s bosom, “I can’t breath...” The elder sister then held the younger by her shoulders and proceeded to shake and yell at her.

“Do NOT do that to me again, you hear me young lady?!” Ruby groaned from nausea.

“Please stop shaking me… I’m about to pull a Jaune...” Ruby burped, trying to keep her breakfast down… The moment was ruined when they heard the Nevermore make a guttural noise above them.

“Guys,” Jaune said, pointing to the flying creature, “that thing is circling back. What are we gonna do?!”

“Look,” Weiss cut in, “there’s no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us.”

“She’s right,” Ruby agreed. “Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There’s no point in fighting these things.”

“Run and live, now that is an idea I can get behind,” Jaune agreed. 

“I hate to be that chick,” Yushi began, “but I doubt that they’re gonna just let us go scott-free, since they’re ancient and two of the most tenacious types of Grimm.” Jaune actually gulped at that, but Ruby nodded in acknowledgement.

“Then we’ll deal with them when the time comes. Everyone ready?” All eight nodded in agreement. He and Ruby grabbed their pieces, a rook and a knight, respectively. They heard the ice encasing the Deathstalker crack and begin to break apart.

“It’s time we left,” Ren said.

“Right,” Ruby agreed, “let’s go.” As they ran towards the red-hooded sniper, Yushi couldn’t help but look on at her little sister with a smirk on her face.

Blake came up to her partner and asked, “What is it?” Yushi shook her head.

“Nothin’… Just...they grow up so fast...” With that, the two followed the rest of the group, hoping to get as far away from the Grimm as possible.

/~/

The eight teenagers ran through a ravine of sorts, with stone ruins to each side, the Nevermore above, and the Deathstalker running after them. Yushi (and presumably the others) saw the bird-like Grimm fly overhead, past them, and land on a large and ancient stone temple that was hanging over a deep chasm.

Two people each ran towards a stone column, trying to hide from the Nevermore’s red eyes. Ruby and Blake hid behind a column in the upper right, Ren and Nora hid towards the upper left, Yushi and Weiss hid in the lower right, and Jaune and Pyrrha hid in the lower left.

It didn’t work, since the avian Grimm screeched while fanning its wings in an obvious challenge towards the teenagers.

“Fucking beautiful...” groaned Yushi aloud. She was also trying to ignore the heiress’ glares that were practically burning a whole in the back of her head.

“I have some few choice words for you,” Weiss stated towards the Faunus in front of her. Yushi’s eyebrow twitched before she turned towards the white-haired girl in disbelief.

“And you think  _ now  _ is the best time for this?!” Weiss continued to glare defiantly.

“Well--” Just then, the Deathstalker broke through the treeline, making a hissing roar, before charging at the group.

“Oh, man- Run!” Jaune said. 

“Hate me later, survive now!” Yushi said as she, much to the heiress’ surprise, picked her up by the waist as the larger girl ran for it.

“What are you doing?!” Wiess practically screamed.

“You were moving too slow and that Deathstalker is godsdamned fast!”

“Put me down this instant, you bumbling busty barbarian!!” Yushi quirked a brow down at the infuriated girl.

“You do realize one of those was a compliment, right?” Weiss screamed animalistically in response. The Nevermore had risen into the air, getting ready to rain more razor-sharp feathers down on them.

“Nora, distract it!” Ren called out, which made the hammer-wielder grin excitedly. Dodging the incoming storm of feathers, she brought out her war hammer/grenade launcher, Magnild, and fired several Dust grenades at the Grimm, with a few making direct hits to the face and chest. The Nevermore screeched as it flew away, retreating.

The Deathstalker ran up to the girl, but before it could attack her, Ren and Blake came in from the left and right, striking the head. The dual attacks didn’t even make a scratch. Ruby held onto Nora’s arm as they sped off, away from the creature.

Jaune, Pyrrha, Yushi (carrying Weiss), Blake, and Ren ran from the scorpion-like Grimm as it pursued them. Pyrrha and Ren began to pepper it with a hail of bullets, but that only seemed to anger it further.

“PUT ME DOWN!” Weiss yelled. Ignoring her, Yushi twisted in mid-air and threw a Dust grenade, which was altered mid-run, towards the Deathstalker.

She yelled out, “FLASH-BANG!!” to the rest of the group. They immediately turned their heads right when the grenade blew, just a couple feet above the creature’s head. It screeched in blinded pain, giving them a minute to breath.

Yushi turned her head to the left and saw that the Nevermore was coming back around for another pass at them.

“Do you trust me?” she asked her unwilling passenger.

“NO!” Yushi shrugged before strapping the heiress over her back and readied a few Star-Boosts.

“Good enough. Hang on!”

“Wait, what?!” Weiss yelled as Yushi boosted the both of them towards the top of the temple. It was lucky she did, too, since the avian Grimm busted through the stone bridge just before they lifted off, leaving them, Yushi, Weiss, Jaune, Ruby, and Nora to fight off the Nevermore as Pyrrha, Ren, and Blake faced the Deathstalker.

Once the two had landed onto the temple roof, Yushi let the heiress off.

“Are you insane?!” Weiss practically screeched at the brawler, but she just shrugged.

“Maybe,” Yushi admitted, but them thumbed towards the flying Grimm. “The real question is, can you stall the Nevermore for a couple minutes?” Weiss blinked a couple times, having not anticipated the question.

“I...believe so. Do you have a plan?” she asked, even if she was still pretty miffed. Yushi shrugged again.

“...Kinda a plan?” The monkey-tailed Faunus took out one of her Dust grenades and altered it to be another flash-bang. She looked towards Weiss and stated, “Get ready.”

Yushi chucked the flash-bang and it soared pretty close to the Nevermore’s head. It went off, blinding the Grimm with an intensely burning light. As it thrashed about, the fencer summoned two Glyphs around the Nevermore’s body and head, keeping it still.

“Hurry,” Weiss said through gritted teeth, but Yushi was already in the air before the white-haired girl could have said anything else. Landing on the feathered Grimm, she began to quickly crawl towards its head as it was released from the Glyph’s hold.

As she managed to get to the head, Blake managed to somehow swing around and land on the Grimm, right next to Yushi. The dark-haired girl was about to slash at the creature, but stopped herself when she saw that she wasn’t alone. The brawler blinked a couple the times before smirking.

“Great minds think alike?” Blake rolled her eyes.

“Something like that...” 

“Hah! Remember my idea from before?” Blake blinked a couple times before it dawned on her and nodded. “Wanna help me stuff this overgrown turkey?” The dark-haired girl quickly unfastened Yushi’s Dust grenade belt- and you have no idea how hard it was for Yushi to not make a ‘take me out to dinner before undressing me’ joke- and primed the explosives. 

Yushi pried the Nevermore’s beak open, struggling at first, but with a bit more force, she got it open. Blake unceremoniously shoved the rest of the grenades down its throat. Yushi snapped it’s beak shut as she snarled into the Grimm’s eyes.

“This is for trying to impale Ruby, ya flying piece of shit!” The fighter then said to her partner, “Grab and hold on!” Blake nodded before wrapping her arms and legs around Yushi’s neck and waist, respectively. Yushi jumped off and Star-Boosted towards Ruby and Weiss, who were both standing on the roof of the temple. After the two landed and separated, Yushi gave the blanchette a curious look.

Ruby stepped up to her sister and asked, “What did you do?” The elder sister answered with a wide grin, before counting off her fingers.

“Four… Three… Two… One...” The Nevermore, circling around and looking for another opportunity to attack, suddenly lurched to the side, it’s stomach expanding suddenly as the grenades exploded. But it didn’t go down. Yushi’s mouth hung wide open in disbelief.

“It’s tougher than it looks...” remarked Blake.

“Bullshit!” Yushi swore, “I don’t care how tough it is, three Dust grenades exploding in its guts should mean it’s dead! How the hell is that even possible?!”

“It doesn’t matter! We’ll hit it with everything we’ve got!” declared Ruby as she mechashifted Crescent Rose into it’s sniper rifle mode and began firing at the flying Grimm. Blake mechashifted Gambol Shroud and followed suit. Weiss threw some Dust-infused blasts while Yushi held her hands out, firing double doses of Star-Blasts.

The Grimm shrieked as it dove towards the four, barely being phased by the hits, and smashed through the stone structure. The girls scattered, trying to avoid the debris. Yushi used her Star-Boosts to supplement jumping from stone chunk to stone chunk, as Ruby used Gravity Dust shots and her Semblance, Blake ran and used her weapon’s ribbon, and Weiss used her Glyphs.

Weiss groaned, “None of this is working...” as she and Ruby landed on a stone walkway. The red-hooded sniper looked to see Blake landing on a walkway to their right and Yushi taking potshots from atop a broken stone spire, swearing all the while.

She turned to her partner and said, “I have a plan; cover me!” Weiss nodded and held Myrtenaster in a practiced stance, rushing forward.

Yushi shot several more Star-Blasts, and while most of them missed, one managed to hit the Nevermore’s face. It shrieked as it turned towards the Huntress-in-training. Yushi glared back, more than ready to bring the pain. She leaped into the air, clearing the avian Grimm’s open beak, and landed onto it’s back again. 

Yushi, flaring her jade Aura around her, yelled, “I hope ya like getting roasted, Feather-Face! HAAAAA!!” She pointed her arms downwards, directing her Star-Flare attack and scorching the Grimm’s back. Yushi backflipped off of the Nevermore, safely to the ground, as it shrieked in more pain and crashed into a cliff face.

Looking at the three other girls, Yushi smirked as she recognized a patented Ruby plan being put into motion. The monkey Faunus ran past Weiss as she went to help her partner.

Weiss, in the meantime, drove her revolver-cylinder rapier into the ground, freezing the Nevermore’s tail before it could have escaped back into the air.

Yushi hung onto the stone pillar, trying not to pull Blake out of her position, as they held Gambol Shroud’s ribbon taught. Ruby shot herself into the air and landed into the ribbon, pulling it back like a giant slingshot. Weiss, on the other side of the ribbon, turned a Glyph black by using some Gravity Dust to hold the ribbon in place and provide some extra oomph.

“Of course you’d come up with this idea...” chastised the heiress.

“Think you can make the shot?” asked Ruby. Weiss grinned haughtily in response.

“Humph, can I?” Ruby blinked a couple times and looked back at her partner. 

“Can you?”

“Of course I can!” Ruby cocked her sniper as the Glyph turned red, and when she pulled the trigger, the Gravity Dust-enhanced shot combined with the Glyph’s energy shot Ruby towards the Nevermore like a missile, destroying the ground beneath her with the force.

Ruby repeatedly shot her weapon as she sped towards the flying Grimm, catching it’s neck by her blade. Weiss formed an entire stretch of Glyphs as Ruby ran on them as she kept shooting. The momentum carried the giant Nevermore, the blade of Crescent Rose slowly sinking into its neck.

Ruby and the Nevermore screamed together as she ran up the cliff, tearing apart the rock underneath the Grimm, until--

_ *shliiiiing! _ *

The Nevermore was finally decapitated with one final burst of Ruby’s Semblance and a gunshot. The youngest Huntress-in-training landed beside the head of the bird-like Grimm, huffing from exertion.

The seven other teenagers starred on as they watched the body fall to the chasm below. 

“Wow,” Jaune said out loud as Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora gapped in amazement, after they had nailed the Deathstalker in the head- literally- with its own stinger.

Yushi wiped away a tear that threatened to trail down her cheek.

_ Dad...Mom… You’d be so proud right now… _

Yushi looked to her left as she heard Weiss panting and leaning over. Rolling her eyes, the monkey-tailed girl gently placed a hand on the smaller girl’s back and gave her some Aura. Initially tensing at the touch, the heiress relaxed as she felt the Aura replenish her own, making her feel warm, but not uncomfortably so. Straightening up, Weiss looked up at the taller girl, fixing a perplexed look at her.

“How did you…?” Yushi looked her up and down, as if trying to figure her out.

“Just my way of saying thanks, for rescuing Ruby earlier and all...” Weiss furrowed her brows and looked away.

“I didn’t do it for you and I certainly didn’t need your help, either.” Yushi chuckled as she shook her head slowly.

“This is gonna be one hell of a year!”

/~/

Yushi offered the three girls a ride across where the bridge used to be, though only Weiss refused; something about having more than enough rides for a lifetime and opted to use her Glyphs to get across. Making the second trip across, with Ruby on her back, the two could see Nora practically bouncing in place.

“That was amazing!!” 

“Nora,” Ren said as he put both of his hands on her shoulders to try to calm his childhood friend, “give them their space; they’re exhausted as it is.” He nodded before adding, “It was impressive, though.” Blake thumbed over to the sisters as her partner landed.

“Don’t look at us… It was all Ruby’s idea.” The younger girl, after wobbling in place as she got off of her sister’s back and leaning against her, rubbed the back of her neck and gushed.

“Well...it was nothing, really--”

“Nothing my ass,” Yushi said. “Another patented ‘Ruby-brand crazy plan...’ And it worked this time!” Ruby punched the taller girl’s arm in retaliation, but that only made Yushi laugh at the effort. Weiss quirked her eyebrow.

“You mean there was a good chance it wouldn’t?” Yushi shrugged.

“Sixty-five-slash-thirty-five success rate.” The heiress groaned as Blake shook her head.

“I thought that you were the one that made the crazy plans...” Yushi pouted at her partner and crossed her arms.

“That plan woulda worked on the Umbranther! I still have no idea why it didn’t work on the Nevermore, though...”

“Umm...” Jaune started. “What’s an Umbranther?”

“A large jaguar-like Grimm with bat-like features,” Pyrrha explained before giving the monkey Faunus a quizzical look. “What was your plan, if you don’t mind explaining.” Yushi opened her mouth, but Blake stepped in.

“Yushi was going to pin it and I was supposed to make it eat a grenade.” 

“What?” Yushi asked as everyone gave her shocked looks, “It woulda worked...” Weiss groaned again as she pinched the bridge on her nose.

“Why am I not surprised…?” Yushi was about to retort to Duchess how Ruby somehow convinced her to ride a Nevermore, but Nora cut in.

“You make your own grenades? Me too! Are they all flash-bangs, though?” Yushi was surprised at first, but chuckled a little.

“No, I just built a mechanism that changes the charge from explosive to flash-bang and back again.” Nora’s eyes sparkled with wonder.

“Please-please-please teach me!!” Yushi chuckled again.

“Only if you tell me how you made your grenades so...pink!”

“Lots of dye and glitter,” Ren deadpanned as he gave Nora (who whistled innocently) a half-hearted glare. “Way too much glitter…” Yushi smiled at the two as they bantered on what constituted as ‘too much glitter.’

_ Man,  _ she thought,  _ get a room, you two! _

It was then that Yushi noticed Ruby still panting from exerting herself earlier. Nudging her sister gently, the brawler asked, “You okay Rubes?” The red-hooded girl looked up and nodded, but before she could protest, Yushi put her hand on the younger sibling’s head, simultaneously rustling Ruby’s hair and flaring her Aura, and gave a portion to the reaper. 

When they looked back towards the group, of which was staring incredulously at them. Blake was the first one to break the sudden silence.

“Wha… What was that?”

“I gave some of my Aura to Ruby,” Yushi answered, as if it was obvious.

Jaune leaned close to Pyrrha and whispered, “Is that a thing?” The redheaded girl shook her head, still in disbelief.

“How?” asked Weiss, eyeing the Faunus almost warily. “That...should be impossible!” Yushi shrugged.

“The theory is, since I can project my Aura outwards from my body, thanks to my Semblance, I can also give it to people. It adds itself to the other person’s Aura and kick starts it, making their Aura replenish faster.” The Faunus girl scratched her cheek. “Though don’t expect me to suddenly become a field medic or anything… It’s just an energy boost…”

Everyone stayed quiet, digesting what they had heard, until Pyrrha asked, “Your Semblance projects your Aura?” to which the brawler nodded.

“Yup!” She curled her right hand into a fist and formed an energy sphere above the knuckles. “I either punch stuff…” Yushi opened her fist, where the energy ball reappeared in her palm, “Or I blast it.” And as if on cue, the energy shot out and hit a broken pillar, leaving burnt markings on the stone.

More silence…

“And you didn’t join the MRT because…?” Pyrrha finally asked. “With a Semblance like that...well, even I would be intimidated...” Yushi kicked a small rock, almost timidly.

“Well, I really did consider becoming an arena fighter, but Ruby and I always wanted to be Huntresses, like our Mom. Plus that whole celebrity side of that industry was never appealing to me.” Yushi turned to her sister, wanting to get through the awkwardness as soon as possible while everyone pondered her explanation. Hopefully nobody asked anymore questions on the matter, particularly their mother… “You feeling better, Rubes?”

Ruby looked back up and nodded. “Yup! In fact, I feel like I--” But before she could finish, a deep rumbling shook the entire area. 

“What is that?!” yelled Jaune as he tried to stand upright and hold his stomach.

“An earthquake?!” asked Blake, but Weiss shook her head.

“No, Vale is nowhere near any fault lines!” Yushi looked at her skeptically.

“And how wouldja even know that?!” But before the heiress could respond, that is when the eight teenagers heard a deep rumbling. An  _ animalistic _ , deep rumbling; like a stomach growling, but if the stomach was the size of a mountain.

On a hunch, Yushi tried her Aura sense and her heart nearly stopped. Her eyes widened as she whipped her body around to look back at the ruins that they had semi-accidentally ruined. Ruby and Blake both had noticed her expression.

“What is it?” Before the dark-haired girl’s question was answered, the gigantic Grimm rose from the chasm below, trying to climb the cliff face that Ruby had raced on earlier.

The thing’s body was oval and nearly completely covered in bone-like armor, except for the six eyes that ran down it, making the Grimm look like a giant skull. They could see a pair of horn-like protrusions forming from each side as it’s nine pitch black tentacles pulled the massive body upwards. Another rumble echoed from the creature.

“That is the biggest Kraken I’ve ever seen,” Ren said in astonishment. Normally Krakens were as big as a person, though tales of bigger specimens said that they can grow to be twice the height of the average man. This one was as tall as three Goliaths standing on top of each other.

“How are we supposed to fight that?!” squeaked Jaune, but Blake shook her hand.

“We don’t. We need to retreat back to the headmaster and inform him, if he doesn’t already know the situation.” They all turned to make a run for it. All except two, that is…

Yushi narrowed her eyes at the giant Kraken. She did want to fight it, but she knew that it probably wasn’t the best idea. She had people who would probably get hurt, with one being her sister and the other being her partner; running would be the best course of action. Though there is a problem--

“Do it.” Yushi looked to her side and, to her confused astonishment, saw Ruby giving her a determined expression like she’d never seen from the smaller girl before…

“And what are you two still doing here?!” The two siblings looked back and saw Weiss, her arms folded in front of her chest and tapping her shoe in agitation, when she scolded them. The others had stopped when the three weren’t following, looking confused.

Yushi huffed, “It won’t work.” Blake walked up and looked at her partner incredulously.

“And why is that?” The brawler pinched the bridge of her nose before huffing again.

“Little known fact: Grimm don’t just hunt people down by sensing their negative emotions, but also by sensing Aura. The more powerful the Aura is, the more likely that person will be attacked…”

“And what does that mean…?” asked Jaune as he and the others walked back.

“It means that the Kraken is gonna follow me, and by extension us, all the way back to Beacon.”

“How do you--” Blake began, before being interrupted. 

“Everyone else here might be running low on Aura, but I could destroy this entire forest and still have plenty to go. It was my Aura that must’ve woken it up...” Yushi walked away from the group and pointed to the Kraken. “...And it won’t stop until it’s killed me; like a hunting dog after a rabbit, it will not relent.” The group saw as while the Grimm used seven tentacles to pull itself up the cliff, two of the black appendages slowly snaked its way towards them, as if trying to keep track of the group.

“I’ve seen it myself,” Ruby said, grabbing everyone’s attention as Yushi walked back. “Almost entire groups of Grimm have completely ignored me because Yushi flared her Aura big enough.”

“You can’t fight that thing all by yourself!!” exclaimed Blake, turning her head back to her partner, while Pyrrha nodded.

“It would be nothing short of suicidal.” Ruby turned back towards the monkey-tailed girl.

“Yushi. Do the thing.” Yushi looked perplexed, but eyes widened as she realized what her little sister was suggesting.

“Are you sure?” Ruby nodded, making Yushi pout a little. “Alright, but I’m doing it because I wanted to, not because you gave me permission...” The red-hooded girl rolled her eyes before walking towards a stone ruin that must’ve fallen over during the localized quake.

“What are you...” Weiss began to ask, but her partner interrupted her.

“Trust me, you’ll all want to be behind cover when she kills it...”

Yushi walked a bit forward and positioned herself in between the ruins to their left and right. She held her right arm out while her left hand gripped it, as if to keep it steady. With a savage grin, Yushi created an Aura sphere, but one that was a good three feet in diameter. Slowly closing her outstretched hand, the sphere condensed to around the same size as a regular Aura sphere.

The others, behind the structure, gasped in amazement as they felt the power coming off of the girl.

“She can do that?!” asked Nora.

“And why didn’t she use this attack against the Nevermore or the Deathstalker?!” asked the heiress incredulously, to which Ruby sighed.

“Weiss, she would’ve if she could; the more power she puts in her attacks, the more dangerous they are to everyone around her.” She emphasized her point by rolling her sleeve up, revealing a very faded scar on her arm. “Trust me.” The others looked from the scar back to the Faunus girl, a little more concerned now.

Yushi, focused on keeping the sphere together, then said aloud, “Spiral--!” The Aura sphere changed itself, looking like a twisting bicone-like shaped projectile, thrumming with power.

“Oh, poop,” Ruby said to herself, making Weiss look at her.

“What?” the blanchette asked.

“She calls out her attack?” asked Jaune, who thought it was weird.

“Only when she really wants something dead...” answered the sniper. “Weiss?”

“Yes?”

“Can you use your Glyphs to make a shield against falling debris?”

“Of course, why?”

“Just be ready…”

Yushi steeled her stance, but she didn’t become rigid; she just didn’t want to fall over when she used her technique.

“Star-Blast--!!” She could feel the pressure of the projectile coming off in waves. It needed to be unleashed and Yushi was more than happy to oblige...after a bit of aiming. The Kraken, sensing the Aura, was now pointing three tentacles at her as it bent itself backwards, as if trying to will itself over to her.

Aiming a bit to compensate, Yushi thought,  _ Smile you sunnova-- _

“CANNON!!” And like that, the projectile was fired towards its target with a thunderous boom, rustling Yushi’s and everyone else’s hair and clothing.

The Kraken screamed a high-pitched noise as the spiraling attack punched through the white armor and tunneled into its body, making it convulse and causing it’s tentacles to twitch. Then, a green sphere began to envelop it from the inside out, the noise coming from it cancelling out the shrieking. As soon as it appeared, it shrank in on itself. 

The expanding energy sphere had erased most of the Grimm’s body, all except a bit of the front and back end and the tentacles that were attached. The leftover parts began to dissipate into the air as they fell back down into the chasm that the Grimm had crawled out of. Also, a chunk of the cliff face was missing… 

Yushi jumped up into the air excitedly and laughed maniacally. “Didja see that?!” Without waiting for an answer, she continued, “It godsdamned worked!! Ha-HAAA!” Yushi clapped her hands. “It worked and it was awesome! I know it’s the adrenaline talking, but I feel like I could run thirty marathons!!”

“‘It worked?’” asked Blake as they rose up from behind their impromptu barrier.

“The attack is supposed to destroy the target without causing too much collateral damage,” Ruby explained.

“And if it didn’t?” asked her partner.

“Then it would have caused an explosion that would’ve destroyed the entire cliff.”

At that point, nearly everyone thought the same thing,  _ Okay, never get on her bad side… _

Except for Blake, who thought to herself,  _ What did I get myself into?! _

/~/

The eight teenagers, and the rest of the students that passed, stood in the auditorium as Ozpin announced teams. Rojo and Coral had been placed into Team CRRL (‘coral’) and Terry was in Team QRTZ (‘quartz’). The tall jerk from the start of the initiation was currently being put into his team, Team CRDL, with him in charge.

As they walked off stage, Jaune, Ren, Pyrrha, and Nora walked on as they were called up by the headmaster.

“The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc.” The blonde boy looked perplexed by what he heard, but Pyrrha gave him a reassuring look, while the two completely ignored Nora hugging Ren off the ground.

“Uh, ‘led by?’” Jaune asked over the applause. Ozpin nodded.

“Congratulations young man.” Pyrrha, in her excitement for Jaune, playfully punched their new leader in the arm, only to knock him over from the force. She looked down at him in self-mortification.

“Ooph!”

“Sorry!”

As they left the stage, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yushi walked on.

“And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yushi Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose.” The red-hooded girl looked like she couldn’t believe what had been announced as everybody in the auditorium cheered. Yushi, on the other hand, couldn’t help herself and pulled her little sister into a tight hug.

“You have no idea how proud I am! Wait until Dad hears about this!!” 

Weiss on the other hand… Well, she couldn’t believe it either, but for a different reason. She wasn’t the leader. Her face became mask-like, hiding her inner indignation and frustration. Lucky for her, the Faunus wasn’t wrong that at least there was one Faunus was going to be on the same team as her… The same Faunus that vaporized a gargantuan Grimm.

…This was going to be one hell of a year, all right…

_...To be continued. _


	6. Burdens and Patience - Part 1

It was a brand new morning. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping… Weiss, in her nightgown, sat up in her bed and stretched. After taking a big yawn, she noticed that Ruby was standing over her with a whistle in her mouth. She blinked a couple times in confusion, but before she could ask--

**_*TWEEEEEEET!!*_** The blanchette was startled so badly that she actually knocked herself off the bed.

“Good morning Team RWBY!!” cried out the younger girl. Weiss’ eye twitched in irritation.

“What in Remnant is wrong--” That is when the heiress heard the giggling. The two looked over and saw that Yushi was trying her damndest to not laugh. “And what is your problem?” Blake looked over from her bed at Ruby, a large cowlick obscuring the bow on her head.

“Really?” she asked, looking unimpressed at their new leader. Yushi couldn’t take it anymore and burst out laughing. She even fell out of bed, too, from laughing so hard.

“You knew that was going to happen, didn’t you?” Weiss accused the brawler, who wiped a tear from her eye before answering.

“I had an inkling...” The Faunus girl grunted as she stood up and stretched. “Rubes, while I appreciate your...gung-ho attitude for the whole ‘leader’ thing, it’s a bit too early for a whistle.” The younger sibling rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment.

“Heh, my bad...” Weiss narrowed her eyes at the elder sister’s tail as it stretched along with the rest of her, before the Schnee looked away. Deciding to ignore that, Ruby held her hand out to her partner...who refused by standing up on her own. Ruby looked towards her sister, who just shrugged and walked over to the closet.

_ Thanks Yushi… _ Ruby thought.

Blake, also choosing to ignore the heiress, taking her uniform and a purple towel, swiftly entered their bathroom to take the second shower of the morning. Ruby sighed softly as she looked over their self-made schedule and their actual school schedule, having already taken her shower and gotten dressed.

_ This isn’t how I wanted the day to begin... _

Weiss, after checking that she had all of her school supplies in order, went to the closet, where her uniform was, but stopped when she saw that something was in her way. Namely, Yushi’s behind. The fencer glared down towards the offending rear that was just in the air. Her tail swinging back and forth, as if it was taunting the white haired girl.

Sick of waiting, Weiss said, “Excuse me.”

“What?” Yushi asked back, her head deep inside the closet.

“...Are you going to be done soon?”

“Gimme a minute.” A minute passed and Weiss’ eye twitched again.

“What are you looking for in there?!” Instead of answering her, Yushi leaned back and asked the sniper a question.

“Hey, Rubes? You seen my personal bag?” 

“‘Personal bag?’” Weiss asked herself, but Ruby, answering her sister, shook her head.

“No… Are you sure you packed it in the right bag?” Yushi nodded in turn, though neither of the other two girls really saw as the brawler dove back in.

“I swear I put it in my backpack...”

“As long as you're searching...for your personal belongings, can you hand me my uniform?” asked the heiress in a surprisingly non-snobbish tone. Yushi pointed a finger in the air while her tail twirled a bit.

“What’s the magic word?” Another eye twitch.

“...Please.” Yushi immediately grabbed a neatly folded girl’s uniform and haphazardly handed it over her shoulder.

“Actually, it’s abracadabra, but I’ll accept that too. That didn’t kill you, now did it?” 

Weiss immediately thought,  _ Close enough… _

...But instead said, “Thank you,” as she sped towards the desk near her bed. She promptly sat down and began writing in her planner, waiting patiently as Blake took her shower.

“Aw, to hell with this!” The blanchette looked up to see Yushi speed towards her bed, carrying a dull yellow and black backpack, and sat down. She searched through the backpack before finally dumping it all on the floor. “I swear, I always put it in here… The hell did my personal bag go?!”

Weiss narrowed her eyes as she glanced at the Faunus girl.  _ And just what is this ‘personal bag?’  _ she thought.  _ Some sort of Faunus...thing? A secret Faunus thing?  _ It wouldn’t have surprised her if this imbicile basically blabbed something like that to everyone on campus...  _ Maybe even something to do with  _ them _? _

“Maybe you put it in your gym bag?” suggested Ruby, who was looking over some material from Signal, just in case. 

With an annoyed look on her face (from having to search for something that she shouldn’t have to search for to begin with...), Yushi trudged back to the closet. She took out the dull yellow, beige, and black elongated pack and opened it up. Searching a bit, the brawler found what she was searching for: a small, black tied bag.

“Huh...” said Yushi. “Why the hell was it in my gym bag?” 

Ruby shrugged and speculated, “Zwei really did want to come along...” The elder sister huffed to herself with annoyed mirth.

“So he made room by putting the backpack stuff in the gym bag… That little twerp!”

“Hey!” Ruby chastised her sibling, “Zwei is a good boy!” Yushi rolled her eyes.

“Relax, Ace Attorney Ruby, your defendant isn’t here...” After quickly packing away the gym pack and refilling the backpack with the dumped stuff, Yushi untied the personal bag and sorted through its contents, much to Weiss’ ‘hidden’ interest.

“Deodorant, nail clippers, tweezers, skank juice-” Yushi glanced up at Weiss’ perturbed face and explained, “perfume for when I wanna feel extra sexy-” and glanced down again, “tampons, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, moisturizer… Ahaa!” And with that, the monkey-tailed girl pulled out a pair of surprisingly immaculate scissors and fine-toothed comb.

“What are those?” asked Blake, having gotten out of the shower without anyone noticing, somehow. Yushi looked up at her and gave a little smirk.

“My tail-scissors and tail-comb.” The white-haired girl looked incredulously at her.

“...Your what?” Yushi rolled her eyes and pointed to her slightly swaying tail to her left.

“Do you know how much of a pain in the ass it is to maintain this thing? And no, the pun wasn’t intentional, but I won’t stop you from remarking how  _ pun _ ny it was.”

Nobody laughed. Not even a snicker. 

Yushi scrunched her face and huffed to herself, “Fine then...” She turned her head to her partner and asked, “You mind helping me back there while Weiss takes her shower?” The heiress looked at the brawler like she had suggested going to a strip club, while Ruby and Blake’s brows arched on their heads in surprise.

“...Or I could have Rubes help me with my tail if it, y’know, makes you feel weird or whatever…” Yushi scratched the back of her head awkwardly. She didn’t see it as a big deal, asking someone to comb her tail for her, so why did everyone else make it out to be? It’s not like she’s asking someone to pick bugs out of her hair like what actual monkeys do.

Blake subtly shook her head out of her shock and saw Yushi look away, actually embarrassed. She knew that Faunus with tail traits sometimes asked people to help grooming their tails, but she had never done anything like it before; it wasn’t like any of her friends had tails.

She didn’t have many friends growing up in Kuo Kuana to begin with. All the other kids seemed intimidated by her… That probably had something to do with her being the Chief’s daughter.

The only people that had really been in her ‘inner circle’ were...Adam Taurus and Ilia Amitola. That was a sad thought. The two closest people that had been in her life was a complete genocidal psychopath and...she had no idea what happened with Ilia… 

And here was someone that Blake barely knew, who just asked her to help with her tail, something that she had at least assumed, was intimate. 

Shaking herself out of it, Blake answered, “Okay, if you want me to.” Yushi looked at her with a questioning eyebrow. 

“You sure? Because it’s okay if--”

“Yushi, it’s fine,” Blake interrupted. “If you want help with something, then ask. That’s what partners are for, isn’t it?” The taller girl nodded at the logic.

“Point taken.” She handed over the small comb. “I just thought that I felt some knots when I went to bed and I can’t really get back there, y’know?”

The amber-eyed girl nodded and hummed, “Mhmm...”

“Just be careful back there, this thing is sensitive. Kinda like a flexible, furred arm or somethin’.”

“What do you want me to do?” Yushi shrugged.

“Just comb it like if someone asked you to comb their hair.” Blake gingerly held the appendage in her hand, but...she didn’t know exactly where to begin.

“Um, where do I start…?” 

“Nah,” Yushi replied, knowing exactly what she was asking. “The fur around the base is pretty short for about around an inch, so they’ve never knotted.” The bow-accessorized girl gently held her partner’s tail and began to gently comb the fur, somewhat marveling at its softness.

_ It sort of feels like my ears, _ she thought to herself. And Yushi?

There was no yowling or struggling as soon as Blake put the comb to her tail. In fact, with Yushi sitting cross-legged and as still as possible, it almost seemed like the girl was meditating.

It even looked like she was enjoying it, if Ruby could tell from her perspective; with the slight smile on Yushi’s face with her eyes closed.

Ruby looked down at her notebook, her mind deep in contemplation. Why did Yushi ask Blake instead of her to help with her tail? Was it an accident or was Yushi trying to get to know her partner better? The younger girl knew that she shouldn’t be hurt by it...but grooming Yushi’s tail had been their thing. Sure, she wasn’t great at it at first, but she got better at it.

Ruby stopped herself from thinking that way. _ Nooope!  _ She thought,  _ This is a new day and I have a schedule and everything! _

Weiss, on the other hand, had looked at the entire exchange like it was some sort of horror movie. Or a weird nature show. One of those infamous Faunus documentaries?

The heiress stood up, grabbed her uniform and a light blue towel and robotically walked to the bathroom, shutting the door. Ruby’s brows scrunched up, having noticed her partner’s forced calmness, in annoyance and concern.

_ This is just going to be a thing with her, isn’t it? _ she mentally asked herself.

/~/

_ This is just going to be a thing with them, isn’t it? _ Weiss asked herself as the hot water hit her back as she stood in the shower.

Touching a Faunus’ tail?! Weiss could still hear her father’s rantings in her head, how all Faunus were nothing but animals, that their features were hideous, and they were only good for manual labor. Weiss didn’t agree with him, of course. Why would she agree with the man who had caused her so much pain?

She would never be like Jacques Schnee, so of course she didn’t agree, but…

The memory of that day still lingered…

… 

_ When Weiss was a little girl, her father had hired a small family of Faunus, with the patriarch being a chef who was highly recommended by a business associate. Jacques had been hesitant at first, but ultimately decided that he could just pay them the minimum Faunus wage and they would be grateful. The chef’s wife, a house maid, was extremely efficient in her work, never complaining once, and always seemed to almost go unnoticed, even if she was in the same room as someone else.  _

_ They had a daughter, around the same age as Weiss at the time, too. She mostly stayed in the servants’ quarters, always playing quietly inside while her parents tended to their employers. _

_ Until one day, when Weiss was exploring the estate’s large garden area, she found the girl sitting on a small picnic blanket on the ground. The little Faunus girl wore a wrinkled and slightly unkempt violet dress, her hair was a dark color with very dark red highlights, and she had the tail of a gerbil. From what Weiss could tell, the Faunus girl was having a tea party with a stuffed rabbit, using some plastic utensils. _

_ The two looked at each other for what seemed like forever, unsure of what to do; one was cautious, but curious while the other was understandably scared. _

_ Taking the first step, the daughter of the CEO of the Schnee Dust Company asked the Faunus girl if she could play with her. The Faunus girl was hesitant at first, knowing who the girl was in front of her and how much trouble she would be in, but she was very lonely when her parents were too busy in the day and too tired at night to play with her.  _

_ After a moment the Faunus girl nodded and with a smile, Weiss introduced herself. The girl smiled back and said her name was Dahlia. The two quickly became friends and for an entire month they played together. _

_ Until one night… _

_ Weiss had heard a disturbance and decided to investigate, only to find that it was Dahlia. She was walking down the hallway with a brown sack on her shoulders. _

_ Curious, Weiss walked up and began to ask what she was doing here in the mansion, but Dahlia swiftly turned around, wearing a weird white mask, and drew a knife on her. Frightened, Weiss asked what was wrong, but Dahlia didn’t answer; instead, her hardened eyes narrowed.  _

_ Before she knew it, Weiss was tackled to the ground. The white-haired girl was gagged and tied up, so as to not alert anyone else, by her own friend. Dahlia threw her onto Weiss’ bed and their eyes met. _

_ Weiss looked at Dahlia with fear, confusion, and sadness. She thought she saw Dahlia’s eyes soften for a split second, but the immediately hardened again as the Faunus girl glared at her. She searched through Weiss’ room, taking anything of value and left, making sure to lock the door. _

_ It wouldn’t be until hours later that someone noticed that something was amiss and even longer to find Weiss tied up, having fallen asleep crying. _

_ Weiss’ account verified that the perpetrators were White Fang agents, who had not only stolen valuables, but also sensitive SDC documents that were kept at the mansion.  _

_ Jacques ranted for weeks, if not months. He yelled on how they were cowards, dirty animals that were going to be hunted to the ends of Remnant, but they were never found. _

_ What was worse for Weiss was that Dahlia didn’t try to apologize, or explain, or even gloat. The person who she thought was her friend, who she trusted, had attacked her, tied her up, and stolen from her. Without uttering a single word. _

… 

Weiss pounded her fist onto the wall in front of her, in the shower. Her light blue eyes narrowed at the wall, thinking on the promise that she made to herself, all those years ago.

_ I will never be weak like that ever again. I will become a Huntress, I will take over the company, I will redeem the family name, and  _ nothing  _ will stop me… _

/~/

Once everyone had taken their shower and gotten into their school uniforms, Ruby gathered the girls again, hoping to get back on track.

“And with that out of the way, we can officially begin our first order of business,” said Ruby confidently, or at least she hoped it sounded that way.

“And what would that be?” asked Weiss with a disbelieving raised brow.

“Decorating!” exclaimed Yushi as she held several items: books, pillows, non-tail related hairbrushes, a candle for some reason, etc.

“...What?”

“We still need to unpack,” continued Blake, holding up a suitcase. As if on cue, the suitcase suddenly opened, making it’s contents spill onto the floor. “And clean.” Ruby blew into her whistle again.

“Alright! Weiss, Blake, Yushi, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their very first mission!” The younger girl stuck out her fist towards the other three. Blake and Yushi smiled and put their fists up to hers, but Weiss stubbornly refused. Scowling for a second, Yushi grabbed the white-haired girl’s arm and made her join them, much to her irritation.

“Bonzai!!” Ruby exclaimed and everyone (forcefully or not) lifted their arms into the air.

“Bonzai!!” exclaimed the other two. Weiss just rolled her eyes.

After the cheer, the four girls went to work fixing their dorm room, with Yushi hanging up her hard rock band posters, Weiss straightening a painting until it was just right, Blake put several books away while also trying to hide, let’s just say, ‘risque,’ reading material. Yushi managed to catch it out of the corner of her eye and smirked… Meanwhile, Ruby decided to try and put up new curtains with Crescent Rose, for some reason, only to stitch them together again.

The four looked at their handiwork, only to notice the beds haphazardly piled on top of each other… 

“This...isn’t going to work,” stated Weiss.

“It is a bit cramped...” Blake admitted.

“Yeah,” Yushi chipped in, “we’ve got too much crap...” Ruby looked to the side, deep in thought.

“Or we could ditch the beds--” Ruby’s eyes suddenly widened as she gasped. “And replace them with bunk beds!!” Weiss gave her a concerned look.

“That sounds incredibly dangerous...” Yushi sighed and nodded.

“Sorry Sis, but I’m in agreement with Snowflake on this one.” All three girls looked at the brawler incredulously.

“WHA…?!” breathed Ruby in disbelief, but Yushi raised her hand.

“I know you Rubes; as soon as something happens, you’d immediately blame yourself, even if you weren’t even in the room.” The red-hooded girl slumped on her feet.

“Yeah,” she said sadly, “you’ve got a point...” Blake looked at the heiress expectantly.

“Why don’t you just buy a pair of bunkbeds? You’ve got the money...”

“I can’t just buy the beds,” Weiss huffed. “I was only given a finite amount of Lien for emergencies--”

“Why not just buy the bed frames?” Yushi asked with a finger pointing up into the air. “We already have the mattresses and stuff, so all we need are the frames, which should be cheap enough, right?” Weiss blinked before thinking to herself.

“...That could work.” Yushi clapped her hands together and smiled.

“I guess that’s that!” But Blake soon interrupted her partner’s celebration.

“But what do we do until the bunk beds arrive?”

“And we’d have to send in a form to the headmaster for his approval,” Weiss added.

Yushi shook her fist towards the ceiling angrily and said, “Damn you bureaucracy!” The three girl’s sweatdropped at the display.

“Maybe we can share beds until they arrive?” suggested Ruby. Yushi immediately stopped and shrugged.

“I don’t see why not.” Weiss, not exactly comfortable with sleeping with someone who’s practically a stranger, ultimately relented as she couldn’t come up with a better idea.

“So, Yushi and I in one bed and Blake and Weiss in the other one,” Ruby continued. Blake’s eyes widened in realization. She’d be in bed...with a Schnee! Literally!!

“Hold on!” the amber-eyed girl said, making the other three look at her in confusion. “Uh… Shouldn’t it be Yushi and myself to one bed and Ruby and Weiss to another?” Three eyebrows collectively rose on her teammates' faces. “I mean, since I’m presuming that partners are going to share bunk beds, right? So shouldn’t we share beds, if only to learn each other’s sleeping habits to not disturb each other?”

The three other girls looked at each other before Yushi shrugged.

“That could work...” the brawler then rubbed her chin in thought and said, “Or we could just use the air mattresses that the school has.” Blake, Rwby, and Weiss all agreed on that plan, with Yushi and Ruby both sleeping on air mattresses.

Once that had been settled, Ruby went to the item in her itinerary.

“Alright, our second order of business is--” Ruby then slumped down on her air mattress with a school book in her lap and looking incredibly bored. “Classes. Now, we have a few classes together today. At nine we got--”

“What?!” Weiss cried out, looking incredulously at her partner. “Did you say nine o’clock?!”

“Um...”

“It’s eight fifty-five, you dunce!” The white-haired girl grabbed her school supplies and textbooks and dashed out of their room. The three other girls looked at each other before doing just the same, quickly followed by Team JNPR. 

Yushi grabbed an extra satchel before yelling out, “We’re gonna miss breakfast!?”

“No time!” her sister yelled back. Yushi groaned in self pity.

/~/

All eight students, and the rest of the class, sat in Professor Port’s Grimm Studies class. 

“Monster,  _ demons _ , prowlers of the night; yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names,” the professor drone on, gesturing towards the Grimm diagrams behind him and making everyone start to fall asleep even faster. “But I just refer to them as prey. Ha-ha!!” 

No one laughed at his not-joke. No one would ever laugh at it.

The professor coughed into his hand before continuing, “And you shall too upon graduating from this prestigious academy. Now as I was saying… Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is absolutely teeming with Grimm that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces, and that’s where we come in.” He scanned the classroom to see if anyone had fallen asleep. “Hunters: individuals who have sworn to protect those who can not protect themselves. From what, you may ask? Why, the very world!”

No one, except for one person, reacted to his statement. That person just stood up and ‘whooped’ before sitting back down.

“That is what you are training to become, but first, a story...” 

Blake looked at the professor and sighed, before she felt someone nudge her. Turning to her left, she saw Yushi try to subtly get her attention.

“What is it?” the amber-eyed girl whispered. In turn, her partner handed her a granola bar from under the table, as to keep Port from seeing it.

“Take it, since we missed breakfast and all. Can’t study on an empty stomach!” Yushi whispered back. Blake took the bar and, while Port was looking away from the two, nibbled on it. Her eyes widened before looking back at Yushi.

“This is good!”

Yushi chuckled, “Thanks, made ‘em myself! Since my Semblance uses a lot of calories, I need something that’s packed with vitamins and junk.” 

Blake nodded before asking, “Where were you keeping it?” Yushi smirked before opening the small satchel that she had grabbed, revealing the dozens of granola bars that were packed in there. “Seriously?” the girl deadpanned.

Yushi shrugged, “Like I said- I use a lot of calories...” The brawler immediately inhaled three granola bars “...And Big Momma’s hungry.” Blake shook her head in amusement before finishing her snack.

… 

_ Oh gods, _ thought Weiss as she chewed on the last of her granola bar that Blake had passed to her and Ruby,  _ not another story… _

Hearing some scritch-scratches, the blanchette looked to her left to discover that her partner and leader was doodling their professor in an unflattering portrayal and snickering at it. Weiss glared at Ruby, while Yushi nearly choked on her seventh granola bar, trying not to laugh.

Professor Port coughed, grabbing their attention before he continued.

Weiss continued to glare at Ruby their leader as she balanced a spinning text book on her pencil as she tried to her nose with her tongue, as their  _ leader  _ napped during the lecture, as their  _ LEADER  _ picked at her ears with her pinky--

“--who among you believe themselves to embody these traits?” Professor Port finally finished, but before Yushi could raise her hand to undoubtedly fight the Grimm in one the the cages in the back of the classroom, Weiss immediately raised her hand.

“I do, Professor!”

_ Damn, _ Yushi thought as she looked at the girl,  _ someone’s eager to kick ass… _

“Well then, let’s find out...” Professor Port gestured towards the cages that Yushi had noticed earlier. “Step forward, and face your opponent.”

… 

Weiss, now in her white dress and wielding Myrtenaster, faced the cage with the incredibly pissed off Grimm inside. 

“Kick ass, Snowflake!” cheered Yushi.

“Fight well!” cheered Blake, waving a tiny RWBY flag.

“Yeah, represent Team RWBY!” cheered their leader, but Weiss glared at the girl.

“Ruby! I’m trying to focus!” Her partner shrunk in on herself.

“Oh, uh, sorry...” Blake glared at the heiress while Yushi narrowed her eyes and held back a growl that wanted to escape as her big sister instincts activated. If Weiss saw either of them, she didn’t show it as she readied for whatever Grimm was waiting to tear her apart.

“Alright,” Port said as he wielded his blunderbuss-axe, “let the match...BEGIN!” He swung the bladed weapon, cleaving the lock in half. The door to the cage fell forward, revealing an angry Boarbatusk inside. The Grimm, eager to escape, immediately ran and snarled towards Weiss, ready to attack. 

As it ran towards her, the Boarbatusk jumped into the air in the last moment, with opened jaws as it dived towards the Huntress-in-training--

_...To be continued. _


	7. Burdens and Patience - Part 2

“Alright,” Port said as he wielded his blunderbuss-axe, “let the match...BEGIN!” He swung the bladed weapon, cleaving the lock in half. The door to the cage fell forward, revealing an angry Boarbatusk inside. The Grimm, eager to escape, immediately ran and snarled towards Weiss, ready to attack. 

As it ran towards her, the Boarbatusk jumped into the air in the last moment, with opened jaws as it dived towards the Huntress-in-training--

To which she sidestepped and swiped the rapier’s point across the Boarbatusk’s right flank, making it squeal and veer to the left in order to regroup.

Weiss glared at the creature as it turned sharply to face her, meeting her glare. 

“Ha-haa!” Port said, off to the side, making the heiress turn her eyes at him for a moment. “Weren’t expecting that, were you?”

“Hang in there, Weiss!” Ruby cheered, despite her partner snapping at her before. 

The white-haired girl got back into her stance, pointing the Myrtenaster’s end towards the Grimm and used a Glyph to propel herself forward. As she was about to skewer it, the Boarbatusk turned its head, knocking the weapon awkwardly and getting it caught in the Grimm’s tusks.

“A bold, new approach,” Port said as Weiss struggled to keep her weapon. “I like it!” Yushi could only give him a raised brow in response.

_ How did he become a teacher, again? _

“C’mon Weiss,” Ruby cheered excitedly. “Show it who’s boss!” The blanchette glared at her partner, giving the Boarbatusk the opportunity to take her weapon and fling it to the far side of the room. Weiss was now unarmed.

The Grimm pushed the girl away with its tusks, trying to gore her, but Weiss reacted quickly and used her Aura to take the hit. 

“Oh-ho!” Port continued with his commentary. “Now what will you do without your weapon?” 

The Schnee looked up from on the ground and gaped as the Grimm came in for a strike to her face. She rolled to the left to avoid the Boarbatusk’s charge, making it bounce off of the barrier projection shielding the other students from shrapnel or wayward attacks. Weiss ran and slid for Myrtenaster, picking it up and readying into her stance again. 

“Weiss,” Ruby called out, “go for it’s belly. There’s no armor underneath--”

The heiress turned towards the red-hooded girl and shouted, “Stop telling me what to do!!” Ruby looked back in shock before turning her eyes downward with a pained expression on her face. 

Yushi, looking from her sister to the heiress, gripped the desk in front of her and left a perfect imprint of her fist in the wood, her Aura threatening to flare, before taking a deep breath and releasing it.

_ No, _ Yushi thought, _ this is something that you two need to work out. If either of you want to be Huntresses, you’ll both need to figure out how to work out your differences and cooperate first. _ It didn’t make the monkey Faunus want to punch Weiss in her snobby face any less, though… 

Blake looked worriedly from the imprint Yushi made, the Faunus girl herself, and the heiress. Blake harbored no love for the Schnee, but she did begin to worry as she could practically feel the taller girl glare at Weiss.

The Baorbatusk squealed at the white-haired girl before spinning into its signature rollout attack, rushing towards the girl. Weiss, focusing all of her anger at the small Grimm prepared to strike...except she didn’t. The heiress kneeled and readied her shoulder, forming a Glyph in front of her. The Grimm squealed in surprise as it bounced clean off of the instant shield and flew into the air, exposing itself to an attack.

Taking the opportunity, Weiss jumped and flipped into the air, forming a Glyph that turned black. The Gravity Dust-infused Glyph launched her towards the Grimm and before anyone could blink, she skewered the Boarbatusk with her rapier, the tip scraping against the floor.

Weiss kneeled next to the Grimm, trying to catch her breath as it dissolved into the air and heard Port congratulate her.

“Bravo! Bravo! It appears we are in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training.” 

Weiss stood up, Myrtenaster in hand, trying to breathe slower and not willing to admit that that fight could have gone better… She swiped the rapier in front of her, holding her head in a dignified manner and trying to ignore the looks her ‘teammates’ were throwing at her.

“I’m afraid that is all the time we have for today,” Port said to the rest of the class. “Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and stay vigilant. Class dismissed.”

Ruby looked up from the floor and her eyes met with the steely glare of Weiss’ icy blue eyes. They looked at each other for a moment before the heiress turned her head in complete contempt and walked off towards the locker rooms to get changed.

As she stormed off, Jaune muttered to himself, “Sheesh, what’s with her?” But since he and the rest of Team JNPR were sitting behind Team RWBY, they heard it too.

Blake glanced from the retreating form of the heiress towards the downcast Ruby, then to her sister’s...unreadable expression. The amber-eyed girl couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or not. ...Probably the latter.

Yushi, with no warning at all, suddenly stood up loudly enough to get nearly everyone’s attention. She took another deep breath, grabbed her pack and granola-satchel, and proceeded to walk out of the lecture hall. Everyone who had gotten up to leave made a clear path for the girl, because even they could tell that the monkey-tailed girl was  _ this  _ close to ending someone and no one wanted to end up being that someone.

Blake sighed to herself and thought,  _ So much for taking it easy while staying at Beacon… _

/~/

Yushi stormed down the hallway, not really sure where to go. She could go to the school’s gym to train or the training hall to fight some donated outdated Atlesian Knights… But she knew the hard way that working out while angry wasn’t the best idea...nor was it the cheapest. That had left her sore and her equipment broken.

She could go back to their dorm room and play video games, but no, it wasn’t good to play video games while angry either and there was a chance that the  _ Schnee  _ would show up. There was no telling what the consequences would be if that happened.

She could go visit Junior… Nah, she wasn’t in the mood to terrorize him at the moment.

Maybe she could go back into the Emerald Forest and obliterate any Grimm and/or tree in her path. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. Yushi went towards their dorm room to change into her Huntress attire, before someone called out to her.

“Yushi, wait!” Blake said. The monkey-tailed girl cringed, remembering how she had made quite the scene when she left the lecture hall. That probably didn’t help prove Yushi’s ‘I’m not an angry person’ argument either… 

Yushi slowed down for her partner to catch up. Blake looked up at her and saw the frustrated and embarrassed expression that Yushi was trying to hide by turning her head slightly. The amber-eyed girl looked between Yushi’s dark eyes and released a deep sigh… 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Yushi let Blake’s question linger in the air and in her head, wondering if she could just play it off, before she slumped forward a bit in defeat. Blake’s tone left no room for debate; she knew exactly what had made her mad and (if a little apprehensive) genuinely wanted to help.

“I was planning to punch trees and Grimm until I felt better,” Yushi said, rubbing the back of her neck, “but your idea sounds like the healthier option… Where do you wanna go?” Blake hummed to herself for a moment before speaking.

“The dormitory might not be the best place, in case You-Know-Who’s there...”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Yushi said, nodding in agreement. And if Ruby was there, being all sad and whatnot, that would only make the Faunus girl even madder. And if Ruby, gods of Remnant forbid it, was  _ crying _ … There would be no place that the Schnee could hide that Yushi wouldn’t be able to find her.

“Well,” Blake began, tapping her chin in thought, “we could go to the student cafe.” The student cafe was a little student body run project that Ozpin approved and supported to help students learn finances and the service-type businesses...in case a person or two decided that being Hunters wasn’t cut out for them.

Yushi waved the idea off, “Nah, Coral is working there and if she overheard… Let’s say she’s almost as protective of Ruby as I am.” Blake hummed to herself again.

“There is a place, but I don’t know if you'd like it...” The monkey-tailed Faunus perked an eyebrow.

“Shoot,” she challenged.

“Tukson’s Book Trade. It’s a bookstore and a library, sort of, and I know the owner. He also has a deal with the cafe across the street to allow outside drinks inside.” Yushi snorted to herself in amusement.

“What, you thought I was too much of a meathead to enjoy a bookstore or somethin’?” the brawler said with a smirk. Blake paled for a moment, making her partner bark out a laugh. “I was just teasing; of course I like books! Ruby toldja before that I was the one who was reading to her, remember?”

Blake turned her head in acknowledgement (deciding to let that tease slide) and questioned, “So, we’re going to Tukson’s after classes?” Yushi nodded.

“Yup, just lead the way,” is what she said… 

But the monkey Faunus thought, _ If I don’t strangle the Duchess first… _

/~/

Luckily she didn’t have to, since Weiss deemed it necessary to be scarce from her teammates. Yushi, wearing a black and green blazer, a pair of worn jeans, and sneakers, stood outside Tukson’s Book Trade with Blake, who was wearing a simple white long-sleeved shirt, black pants, matching heeled shoes, and her trademark black bow on her head. They had a cup of ice coffee and hot tea, for Yushi and Blake, respectively.

Yushi fluroushed towards the door, “Ladies first~” Blake cocked an eyebrow.

“Wouldn’t that make you the man in this situation?”

Yushi shrugged before flexing an arm, “A lot of guys are pretty jealous of my guns.” The amber-eyed girl shook her head before opening the door, it made a chiming sound.

The inside of the bookstore itself was more or less plain. The bookshelves themselves were arranged more like a video disc or music store, being much shorter and placed into small isles. The floors were grey and the counter was made out of stained wood. There were a couple tables in the back for people who wanted to skim through a book before renting or purchasing. Honestly, Yushi was expecting more. 

As the two Huntresses-in-training walked into the store, a large, fair-skinned man in a maroon and black t-shirt walked through the back door to the counter, looking at a magazine via a pair of reading glasses.

“Welcome to Tukson’s Book Trade,” he droned, not bothering to look up, “home to every book--”

Blake interrupted the man, smirking at him, “Isn’t that still false advertising, Tukson?” The man, apparently the titular Tukson, looked up in surprise at the voice.

“Blake?!” he laughed, “It’s been a year since you--” Tukson stopped when he saw the monkey Faunus stand beside the dark-haired girl. “Uh… It’s been a long time since you came around. How’ve you been?” Yushi’s eyebrow rose at that interesting exchange.

_ That was less than subtle… _ She deadpanned mentally, but kept it to herself.

“I’m fine; better even,” Blake answered as she walked up and the two hugged. “How has the business come along?” The grey-eyed man rubbed the back of his head. 

“It’s going, but I’ve been thinking of moving to Vacuo. My brother-in-law has his own bookstore here and is thinking of expanding.” Both of Blake’s brows rose in slight surprise at hearing that.

“Oh?” Tukson nodded a little solemnly.

“Yeah, I wanted to help him out, and since Vale has gotten more dangerous lately, I thought it was about time.” Blake nodded understandingly.

“If you need any help, let me know.”

Tukson chuckled, “I’ll be fine. I’m moving out soon, anyway. Just need to handle the finances for the bank and the city before I leave, maybe get into contact with ones that still owe me books or Lien.”

Yushi walked up, cutting into the conversation, “That sucks. Lemme know if you’re having an out-of-business sale; Rubes would probably love to raid the place.” The dark-haired man looked her up and down.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He perked an eyebrow at Blake and asked, “You going to introduce us?”

“Tukson, this is Yushi--”

“‘Sup,” the monkey-tailed girl greeted, extending a hand. Tukson took it and shook.

“Quite the grip you have there,” he commented, but she just shrugged.

“She’s a friend of mine--” Blake started, but Yushi interrupted her.

“Partners, actually.” Tukson looked from Yushi to Blake, then a thin smile grew on his face.

“Huh, I’ve heard of people taking girls to bookstores in order to appear more intellectual, though I never pegged you to be one of them...” Blake paled at the implication, but not because of what Tukson said--

The two heard a stifled snort and turned to see Yushi desperately holding back from laughing.

“Why, Blakey~” the brawler practically sang, “You move so fast! It’s enough to make a girl just faint!” Blake, blushing and scowling up at her ‘partner,’ punched Yushi in the arm. The taller girl busted a gut laughing and rubbed her arm, even though it didn’t really hurt.

“Were not like that!” Blake practically shouted, trying to convince the other two.

After about a couple minutes, Yushi finally calmed down and said to Tukson, “Thanks man, I really needed to laugh like that today!” Tukson perked an eyebrow at the two.

“Did something happen?”

Blake elaborated, “It’s mostly why we’re here.”

“We’re from Beacon,” Yushi elaborated, making Blake cringe, but it was just subtle enough that the other two didn’t see it, “and let’s just say that the new team arrangements are already driving us nuts...” Tukson nodded.

“Say no more. Feel free to look around; any friend of Blake’s is welcome here. I’ll be in the back if you need anything, just holler.” 

Blake nodded while Yushi said, “Thanks!” The two went towards the back and decided to go through an aisle or two before talking.

… 

“I still can’t believe he had the last two volumes of the Eastward Saga,” Yushi chuckled to herself as she looked over one of the books’ covers in her hand again. “And a couple of comics for Rubes to boot!”

“I’m still surprised you actually read something as old as the Eastward Saga to begin with,” deadpanned Blake, looking at the book. Yushi shook her head and shrugged.

“Mom used to read it to me, and every time she did, I always thought of myself as Huo Xin; always charging ahead, beating Grimm up no matter how tough they were. Ruby saw herself as the Prince when I began reading it to her. Especially after Dad and Qrow told her the fairy tail of those silver-eyed warriors that kill Grimm with a single glance...” Yushi chuckled again, before reluctantly remembering what had happened earlier today.

Looking off to the side, the brawler sighed in exasperation, completely at an impasse. Blake looked up, sipped her tea, and placed it down on the table counter.

“Do you want to talk about it now?” she asked her partner, to which Yushi looked her way before sighing again.

“You didn’t say you had siblings, did you?” 

“I did ask my mother for a little sister, but she was pretty adamant about ‘not going through  _ that  _ again...’” Blake shook her head, making the monkey Faunus snort.

“You were a wild child or somethin’?”

“No, she meant going through labor again.”

“Ah,” Yushi nodded in sympathy. She couldn’t understand how other women could do it either, but then again, she wasn’t ready to settle down just yet. “Let’s just say I’ve made a lot of dumb decisions that a better big sister than me should’ve prevented...”

“So you feel guilty,” Blake stated, but Yushi waved it off.

“No, but...” Yushi let out a breath, as if she was defeated. “After Mom...passed, Dad went to a very dark place. He said something to me that he still regrets to this very day; a truth that I was too naive and young to truly understand.” The taller girl looked back up into Blake’s amber-colored eyes with dead seriousness. “That I was adopted.”

Yushi held up her hand as soon as Blake tried to speak, telling her that the monkey Faunus wasn’t done.

“From what was told to me later, the way I was adopted was this: my birth parents, in all of their infinite wisdom, thought it would be a good idea to leave a baby, wrapped in a blanket in a wicker basket on the front porch-” she nodded to Blake’s shocked expression- “the whole stereotypical nine yards. Might as well had me floating down a river...”

“Anyway, before a flying Grimm could haul my crying ass away, Mom and Dad took me from the front porch. A week later, the adoption papers were official.”

“Just like that?” Blake asked skeptically.

“Just like that,” Yushi nodded again. “But the thing is, I never felt like I was adopted at all. Hell, half the time I forgot that I was a Faunus! Mom and Dad had hardly ever mentioned my tail, only if it got injured or I did something cute with it, like wrapping it around Ruby if we took a nap together.”

“That is, until Mom went out on a mission and never came back…” Yushi pinched the bridge of her nose before continuing, “Like I said, Dad broke and told me that they weren’t my real parents. At the time, it felt like I was being crushed, like the entire world inverted on me and the pressure was too much.”

“Who were my birth parents? Why did they abandon me? Did they leave me to Taiyang and Summer for a reason? And the worst part was...the fact I would never know. They were probably long since dead by the time I found out...”

Yushi huffed mirthlessly, “And do you know what the funniest thing was? Ruby, the little girl who I thought was my sister but suddenly wasn’t, was there for me. Somehow, she knew that I needed someone then more than ever- even though she had no idea what was going on- and continued to have my back ever since, no matter the number of dumb stunts that I got us into. And I’ve been there for her, too...”

“But now? I know that Ruby’s supposed to deal with the whole heiress situation- they are partners afterall- on her own, but every fiber in my being is telling me to do something--”

“And you don’t know what to do,” Blake finished, to which her partner nodded. “You want to help Ruby, but that would do more harm than good in the long run, since she needs to learn how to deal with people.”

“Exactly!” the brawler ruffled her spiky hair out of frustration. Blake hummed to herself…

“To be completely honest, I believe what you’re doing is the right thing. Ruby does need to know how to figure that out on her own...though I can’t say that I’m exactly envious of her situation...” Yushi groaned out loud while leaning back against the chair.

“Tell me about it. No one could get stuck with Weiss Schnee, of all people, and leave with their sanity intact- AND we have to live with her!” Yushi leaned back forward and scratched her neck, before looking up at Blake, looking both guilty and relieved.

“Thanks for listening to me blab on and on and whatever...” Blake waved her off.

“I don’t mind; it’s what partners are for, remember?”

“If only Rubes and Miss Icicle-Up-The-Butt could figure that out...” Yushi then slowly gave her partner, who took a sip of her drink, a sly but curious look and asked, “Do you think we could get away with locking those two in a closet until they got along?” Blake did a spit-take at that imagery, making Yushi perk up quite a bit. After she took a couple breaths, the amber-eyed girl looked at her partner with annoyance.

“You do realize that they’d pay you back tenfold if you actually did that, right?” But Yushi just shrugged.

“Worth it.” The taller girl rose up from her seat and stretched, saying “Anywho, I wanna thank you again for listening--”

“Even though you don’t need to...” 

“It was cathartic,” Yushi continued, ignoring the bow-accessorized girl. “Though I do feel bad about leaving Ruby...”

“Is that why you got those comics?” Blake asked.

“Sorta, but mostly to make her feel better after what happened today.” The girl’s stomach started to growl. “I feel like getting pizza, you?” Blake shrugged.

“As long as I’m getting anchovies,” she said, which made Yushi bark out a laugh.

“First time I ever met someone who liked anchovies on their pizza!” 

“I like fish,” Blake said simply.

“I’ll keep that in mind for future reference. Got everythin’?” With a quick nod, the two paid for their books and comics, no matter how hard Tukson tried to refuse the money...but Yushi paid anyway. It’s not like he could’ve stopped her.

They stopped by Lil’ Geo’s Pizzeria and picked up a small veggie pizza with anchovies for Blake, a large spicy barbecue chicken pizza for Yushi, and a large three meat and veggie pizza for Ruby.

“Did you really have to buy three?” Blake asked. “I wouldn’t have minded sharing, you know.”

Yushi shrugged, “I have a healthy appetite.”

“Does that mean Ruby likes to eat, too?”

“Not really...well, maybe except for chocolate chip cookies. I’ll just end up eating the rest of hers anyway.” Blake shook her head as her partner smiled down at her.

_ At least she’s not angry anymore,  _ the bow-accessorized girl thought. Crisis averted, at least for now...

/~/

Ruby sat on her bed, surrounded by at least a dozen textbooks, notebooks, and her Scroll had several videos ready to play, as she studied like no one had studied before. All the while, what Weiss and Ozpin had said to her earlier echoed in the young Huntress-in-training’s head…

_ “You’re supposed to be a leader, but all you’ve been is a nuisance.”  _

_ “...You’ve done nothing to earn your position! Back in the forest, you’ve acted like a child and you’ve only continued to do so.” _

_ “Being a team leader isn’t just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. If you’re not performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you?” _

Her silver eyes hardened even more in determination. Determination to show Weiss, Ozpin, and everyone else that she could do this, that she had what it takes to succeed here, to not only become a Huntress, but a leader. She was so determined, in fact, that she almost didn’t notice when Yushi and Blake came into the room.

The two older girls looked at each other before looking back down at their leader.

“Uh...” Yushi started. “Heya Rubes, whatcha doin’?”

Still looking between textbooks, she answered, “Studying.” This made Yushi’s eyebrow rise slowly on her head. If there were three things that Yushi knew about her sister, they were that she was a weapon nut, she loved cookies, and she hated to study.

“Studying for what?” Blake asked in turn. “I didn’t know we had a test so soon...”

“We don’t...” Ruby answered. Yushi’s eyes narrowed. Quickly, she tossed the pizzas onto her bed before picking the younger girl up from her sitting position and putting a hand on her forehead. “Yushi, what are you doing?!”

“Checking if you’re running a fever,” Yushi answered. Ruby tried to struggle out of the hold on her, until the elder sibling let go. 

Ruby pouted indignantly, saying, “I’m not sick, Yushi!”

“It’s either that or you’re an alien imposter, because the Ruby I know would never study this hard or be this serious. Ever.” Yushi’s eyes narrowed again as a thought crossed her mind. A thought that she didn’t like…

“Is this because of the  _ Duchess _ ? ‘Cause you don’t have to prove anything--”

“I do!” Ruby yelled, making both Yushi and Blake pause in shock. Ruby stared down towards the floor, her face looking uncertain yet somewhat determined. “I’m two years behind everyone else...not to mention all of the stuff that Beacon is going to throw at us. I was made the leader of this team...” 

Ruby clenched a fist in front of her before looking right in both Yushi and Blake’s (but mostly Yushi’s) eyes. “That’s why I need to study and work harder than ever and prove that I belong here, that I can do this and become a leader that you guys can believe in.”

The monkey-tailed girl didn’t move or say anything as they watched each other. Then, all of a sudden, Yushi pulled the younger sibling into a tight, spine-snapping strength hug. The brawler turned ever so slightly as to not let her partner see the tears that threatened to fall.

“I’m so proud of you!” Yushi said.

“Yushi...” Ruby croaked, slapping her sister’s back in desperation. Yushi got the message and dropped the girl back onto the floor, where she took a few deep breaths. The brawler placed a firm hand on her sister’s shoulders, getting her attention as she gave Ruby a seldom seen serious look.

“Ruby, you may be our leader, but  _ we  _ are a team. No one is an island and  _ all  _ of us need to work together...” Yushi’s dark eyes narrowed at Ruby’s silver-colored ones. “...And that includes the heiress.” But before Ruby could protest, Yushi held her hand up to silence her so she could continue. 

“You know that you need to pull your own weight for this team to work, and Blake and I are going to pull ours’, too,” Yushi turned towards her partner, who nodded her head in agreement before the both of them looked at their leader. “But is Weiss?” Ruby crossed her arms while giving her sister a hard look.

“Of course she’s going to--”

“But what if she doesn’t?” Yushi asked, interrupting the younger girl. “What if, even after all of the effort that you’re putting in, Duchess doesn’t think it’s good enough and continues to be a pain in the ass?”

“Not that she would...” Blake commented, looking off to the side in thought. The Schnee heiress was a snob, but she wasn’t an idiot or unreasonable. ...Well, not ridiculously unreasonable, that is.

“But if she does,” Yushi continued without missing a beat, “you need to be prepared. There is a time to accept criticism and improve yourself, and there is a time to stand your ground.” Yushi’s eyes softened as she smirked at her sibling, “Don’t let anyone push you around, no matter how high and mighty they think they are…’kay?”

Ruby nodded, looking down. She didn’t want to think that Weiss was like that, but she had thought that they had buried that hatchet earlier… She looked back up when she heard her sister grunt, stretching her arms, back, and tail.

“And with that pleasantness outta the way,” Yushi said aloud, reaching for a pizza box. “Here, have some brain food.” Ruby took the box and opened it, only for the contents to make her gag. 

“You got me anchovies?!” Ruby really didn’t like fish… Yushi laughed before taking back the offending box.

“Sorry, that’s Blake’s,” the elder sibling explained as she replaced it with Ruby’s pizza. The younger girl sighed with relief when she took a slice of meaty, veggie, cheesy goodness and munched on it.

“What, no cookie?” Ruby asked, making the other two smirk.

“Nope, no cookie,” answered Yushi. “But I did get you a pick-me-up treat for you--” In that instant, Ruby zipped right over to her sister, eyes sparkling, and proceeded to hop in one place repeatedly.

“What-is-it? What-is-it? What-is-it?” 

Yushi smirked as she reprimanded her sibling in a mocking tone, “Nuh-uh. You eat your pizza, finish your studies, and then you can get your treat.” Ruby folded her arms as she gave a pout.

“I’m fifteen- not a little kid anymore, Yushi!” Both of the older girls giggled as Yushi rustled their leader’s hair, much to her chagrin.

/~/

_ “Unless you can get off of that high horse of yours, face reality, and stop thinking with that ignorant mindset, then the next four years here are gonna be hell on Remnant for you.” _

_ “I see a girl before me who has spent her entire life getting exactly what she wanted.” _

_ “So instead of fretting what you don’t have, savor what you do. Hone your skill, perfect every technique, and be not the best leader, but the best person you can be.” _

Those words from earlier still echoed in Weiss’ head as she walked down the dormitory hallway towards her room-- No, her team’s room. Team RWBY. Ruby’s team.

The fencer sighed to herself in defeat. She had a lot to think about, and quite a bit of time to do it, too. She was disappointed that she wasn’t the leader, but after what the professor had said to her, she was more disappointed in herself.

Sure, Ruby had acted like an immature brat, but had she acted any better? And then there was Yushi…

The Faunus girl drove her insane, but she did have a point. She knew that her father’s inane rambling against the Faunus was just that...but had she acted better than him? 

That night still haunted her and Weiss hated herself for it. She hated Dahlia for betraying her. She hated feeling helpless. She hated that it was controlling her actions. But she didn’t hate the Faunus…

...Weiss was afraid of them.

Would they try to befriend her only to backstab her, just like what Dahlia did? Were they just waiting for an opportunity, a sign of weakness, to hurt her?

She had turned that fear, and the pain of her father’s verbal abuse and controlling behavior, into a wall that she put up around herself, to protect herself from getting hurt again. She lashed out at anyone who interacted with her, at anyone who deviated from the ‘norm’ that she had been raised to know. She tried to make herself feel superior while making others feel inferior, just to make herself feel safe.

And what did that actually accomplish? Weiss became the one person she swore that she would never become to begin with.

The blanchette huffed mirthlessly as she thought,  _ A lot good that did me… _

She stopped in front of her room’s door, taking a deep breath. The heiress checked her Scroll’s clock, it was just past ten. If the others were smart, then they would already be asleep by now.

It was now or never…

Using her already opened Scroll, Weiss unlocked the door. She opened it as slowly and as quietly as possible, hoping that the rumored ‘super-hearing’ wasn’t an actual universal Faunus trait that they all shared, like night vision… She quietly closed the door behind her and looked around.

The lights, while still on, had been dimmed quite a bit, letting Weiss see just enough that both Blake and Yushi were fast asleep. The heiress paused as she looked over to her left and blinked at what she saw.

Ruby was lying down on the air mattress, surrounded by books, notebooks, an opened pizza box, and other school supplies. Weiss could only gape down at her partner, before shaking her head.

_ Was she studying the entire time I was gone? _ The heiress asked herself. She walked over, and after thinking about what to do, she knelt near the young reaper and nudged her shoulder a couple of times. Ruby’s eyes fluttered open, then widened when she realized who it was.

“W-Weiss?! I was studying and I must’ve--” The heiress covered her partner’s mouth to stop her rambling and to keep from--

The two turned their heads towards Yushi as she snorted, “No, Dad...I don’t wanna...eat my shoes...” The two girls blinked as the brawler turned over in her sleep, facing away from them and continued to snore obnoxiously. The two partners sighed silently in relief. If there was one thing you did not want to do, it would be to wake Yushi before she wanted to be woken up.

Weiss, looking back at Ruby, put her finger to her lips. Eyeing the empty coffee mug near the air mattress, the blanchette whispered, “How do you take your coffee?” Ruby drew a blank as Weiss uncovered her mouth; she never really liked coffee. She was more of a hot cocoa girl herself.

“I, uh, don’t--”

“Just answer the question.”

Panicking, Ruby answered, “Cream and five sugars!” Weiss raised a brow, but accepted it and left to make her a cup.

“Don’t move.” The sniper adjusted her eyewear in anxiety, but before she knew it, Weiss had returned with a fresh cup of coffee, sweetened to a ridiculous degree. “Here”

Accepting the mug, Ruby said, “Um, thanks Weiss,” smiling at the white-haired girl, genuinely touched. Weiss returned the smile, but it faltered as she tried to come up with something to say… So, she cut right down to the chase.

“Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader,” the heiress said, making her partner’s smile widen. “Just know that I will be the best teammate you will ever have. Good luck studying.” Weiss got up and was about to walk towards the bathroom to change into her nightgown, but paused as she noticed something. 

She pointed at one of Ruby’s work pamphlets and (weirdly) cheerfully corrected, “That’s wrong, by the way.” Blinking in confusion, Ruby looked over at the pamphlet to see what her partner meant.

Weiss stuck out her head out of the bathroom before closing it, whispering, “Hey Ruby?”

“Uh-huh?”

“I always wanted bunk beds as a kid.” At that, the heiress quietly closed the door to get ready for bed and Ruby turned over on her stomach to look over the pamphlet again, smiling at herself. She knew, deep in there, Weiss was capable of being a truly caring person.

What neither of them had noticed, however, was how Yushi’s snoring had quieted down nor the smile the Faunus girl wore as she ‘slept...’

_...To be continued. _


	8. Confession

Ever since Weiss and Ruby’s talk, things at the RWBY dorm had been going well. Very well, actually. 

Their bunk beds had been both approved and arrived on the fourth day. It seemed that Ozpin was all for their bunk beds idea as much as RWBY’s leader had been. With some help from the boys from Team JNPR, Ruby and Yushi had successfully assembled the bed frames and the rest of RWBY helped make their respective beds. 

Ruby was diligently keeping up with her studying, and Weiss had been willing to provide help whenever her partner asked for it (though Weiss would never budge on just giving Ruby the answer, much to the younger girl’s chagrin…).

In fact, Weiss must’ve had a near-total attitude adjustment. At least compared to how she was before. 

She seemed much...warmer? Friendlier than how she had first acted towards the rest of her team and their neighbors across the hall. Well, she still seemed indifferent to everyone, but at least she wasn’t actively insulting them. They only got an earful if they did something that the heiress very much disagreed with.

Emphasis on ‘near-total.’

Although the situation seemed to have calmed down, you could practically feel the tension in the atmosphere. The tension between Weiss and Yushi, to be specific.

It wasn’t like they had been giving each other dirty looks, or arguing, or anything else- in fact, they barely interacted with each other. There was this...anticipation that seemed to make the air thick with awkwardness and unease, and everyone in the room could feel it.

On their sixth day at Beacon, Team RWBY had decided to stay in their dorm, doing whatever, despite the tension.

Ruby was going over a couple of work pamphlets that Oobleck had given her to earn herself a little extra credit. Though, at the moment, she couldn’t exactly concentrate…

Especially with the aforementioned Goliath in the room. 

The red-hooded girl could only glance down from her perch, the top bunk of the bed that both she and Weiss shared, down at her partner. Ruby barely managed to stop herself from sighing in exasperation.

_ What happened? What is eating Weiss? _ She could only think,  _ I thought everyone was starting to get along… _

She knew it wasn’t something that Yushi started; when Yushi started trouble, she made it a habit to  _ end  _ it herself. No, Yushi didn’t do anything...this time...so then that means that Weiss wanted to do or say something… But what?

Ruby knew that her partner knew that picking a fight with Yushi Xiao Long- to make her angry, not to spar against- was an exercise in stupidity and suicide. Did that mean that Weiss wanted to talk to Yushi then? 

Ruby brightened up internally at that thought. 

Maybe she wanted to apologize? That would be great! Weiss and Yushi finally getting along… Ruby then frowned at herself as another thought crossed her mind.

Was she expecting too much? All she wanted was her team, her sister and her new friends, to get along.

Yes, Weiss said that she wanted to be the best teammate that she’d have, but there was what Yushi and Blake said about the tension between the SDC and much of the Faunus population on Remnant before… 

Weiss didn’t ‘stealthily’ glance at Yushi with superiority or hate; the heiress looked at Yushi like she was a Beowolf that might attack her at any time, without warning. Ruby narrowed her eyes as yet another thought crossed her mind.

Was… Was Weiss afraid of Yushi?

… 

Blake laid on her bed, right under Yushi, reading another chapter of  _ Cat’s Tale _ , a somewhat steamy mystery/crime novel about a cat Faunus police officer that goes undercover to infiltrate a group of thieves--

The dark-haired girl had to resist flicking her second pair of ears (again), as she heard the heiress shift in her seat, in obvious discomfort and/or glancing towards Yushi’s bunk, seen from Blake’s peripheral vision. For the upteenth time this evening.

Blake had no idea what to think of that, to be honest. Should she feel satisfaction that Weiss Schnee was struggling? Hmm…

The cat-eared girl closed her eyes as she pushed those thoughts out of her mind. Feeling satisfaction from someone else’s misery was what the White Fang had now become, not what it was before. Not when her father led it. She was here because of them, to be better than what they had turned into.

Blake let out a near-silent breath of frustration. Whatever problem the heiress had with Yushi, Blake was more than confident that the brawler could handle it. Blake couldn’t help her partner every step of the way. Yushi could fight her own fights.

Besides, she handled the Schnee fine before, so she can do it again, right?

… 

Weiss could only stare at the textbook that was open before her, but she just...couldn’t concentrate on the words. 

_ What is wrong with me? _

She knew the answer of course: Yushi, or to be exact, trying to talk to Yushi about her feelings towards the Faunus and why she felt the way she did. The heiress practiced what she would say over and over and over in her mind, but whenever she tried to actually start, she always froze. It was humiliating.

So here she was, in her nightgown, looking over a textbook, and sitting in her partner’s shared desk. Doing nothing except making side glances up towards where the monkey Faunus was relaxing. She turned her eyes back towards the textbook, praying to the gods that she was stealthy enough that no one had noticed.

Weiss’ brows scrunched up in frustration.

_ Why is this so hard? _

She knew what she had to say, she knew why she had to say it, so why couldn’t she? Was she afraid?

The white-haired girl shuffled uncomfortably in her seat- again- and tried to think of a new approach.

… 

Yushi sat on the top bunk, listening to her music with her headphones while skimming through a magazine, and being ignorant of what was happening around her. Well, she was trying to, but Weiss was not making it easy. Yushi was more than aware that Weiss wanted to talk to the monkey-tailed girl, but would back out at the very last moment.

Yushi thought it would be better for Weiss to make the first move, to take that first step, but all that did was make things super awkward… 

And Yushi hated it.

She hated when things got awkward. She couldn’t punch or blast it out of existence. It was something that a more brainy person would be able to deal with, but the brawler just tried to make a joke or two to plow through it. That sometimes worked.

She could practically feel the Schnee girl’s glances, even though Yushi couldn’t actually see her do it. It was honestly starting to get on her nerves. And she shuffled in her seat, again.

…

_ That’s it! _

Yushi let out a long sigh before taking off her headphones, folding the page corner that she was on, and unceremoniously hopped down onto the ground- all with her eyes closed. All three other girls stared at her with a bit of apprehension and surprise.

The taller girl then sat on her partner’s bed and opened her eyes, staring right into the heiress’ with a surprisingly serious look on the monkey Faunus’ face.

Resting her forearms on her knees, Yushi plainly asked the white-haired girl, “So Snowflake, it seems that you want to say something to me.” She never liked beating around the bush, anyway. Weiss’ eyes widened before she turned away, schooling her expression.

“I have no idea what you mean,” she answered, to which Yushi narrowed her eyes. 

Ruby, eyeing her sister warily, was about to say something, but Yushi held her hand up.

“Really,” the monkey-tailed girl said flatly. “Then I guess the page you’ve been reading for the past twenty minutes must be very interesting.” Weiss’ eyes widened in shock. “Not to mention that you’ve been giving me ‘subtle’ glances for the past thirty minutes. And then there’s the fact that everywhere I turned and saw you, for the past couple days, it looked like you wanted to say something.” 

Yushi slapped the side of her leg before going back to the position that she was in previously. “Well, might as well say what’s on your mind, now or never.”

Weiss turned her face away from the taller girl again, looking down at the textbook that was on the desk. She closed her eyes, obviously thinking, before she looked back at Yushi with more determination then she had previously.

“I...” Weiss paused for a moment before gulping, “I do not hate the Faunus.” The room became deadly silent as Ruby and Blake stared at their teammate with shocked expressions. They both prayed that this wasn’t going where they thought that this was going…

Yushi’s face, on the other hand, hadn’t changed at all.

“I am not my father. I will never be like that- like Jacques Schnee.” Weiss breathed deeply before continuing, “He is a cruel and heartless man who cares about nothing except whether he is making a profit or not, be it from cut-throat business tactics or from Faunus labor.”

“He has single-handedly ruined the Schnee name, a name that my grandfather had spent most of his life raising it up and providing the means for people to defend themselves against the Grimm. And that is why I want to be a Huntress- to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps and return the Schnee Dust Company to what it was before.”

Weiss faced away from the Faunus girl, her head down as she scrunched up her brows again.

“While I don’t share my father’s...disdain towards the Faunus… I can’t trust them. I… I can’t trust you.” Ruby and Blake could only look at the heiress in shocked silence.

Blake stared at Weiss in disbelief. She couldn’t make sense of what she heard. She didn’t hate the Faunus...but couldn’t trust them? What did that even mean?!

Ruby also stared at her partner, but was just as upset as she was confused. Was Weiss trying to start something?! She said that she wanted to be the best teammate that she could be, so what was this?

But before either of them could voice their disbelief, Yushi spoke.

“And?” Weiss looked over to her with her own confused expression. “I’m guessing that there’s a story behind that, so...spill.”

Weiss tried to read her face, to see if this was a trick, but Yushi’s expression hadn’t changed from before. Yushi looked at the fencer with no sign of anger, disgust, or anything. She was looking at her with more stoicism than what Weiss thought Yushi was capable of.

She had no idea why- maybe she just needed to vent her frustration?- but she recounted meeting Dahlia, playing and befriending her, the night that she and her family robbed and tied her up…

...And how the White Fang destroyed SDC property, attacked family members and friends, and how they had painted a target on her back just for being born a Schnee! And the nights when she heard nothing except Jacques Schnee rant about ‘uncooperative’ Faunus workers and White Fang attacks… 

By the end of her rant, Weiss felt like she was trembling. She quickly covered the clenched fist in her hand, trying in vain to keep the dam from breaking.

Ruby, wanting to comfort her partner, had gotten up and walked over to her. “Weiss...I--” But before the younger girl could place her hand on the heiress’ shoulder. Weiss got up from her seat and stared Yushi down.

“No!” Weiss shouted, “Do you know why I can’t trust the Faunus? It’s because no matter where I look, every Faunus that I see is just another White Fang recruit, ready to point a knife to my back, all because I am a Schnee!”

A moment of silence pervaded the room… 

Yushi then stood up, her face completely unreadable, and took a sudden step towards the heiress, causing Weiss’ eyes to widen as the Faunus girl seemingly loomed over her.

What happened shocked the three other girls, almost as if they couldn’t comprehend what was happening…

Yushi was hugging Weiss!!

The blanchette blinked several times before she finally got over her surprise. Wiess could only marvel at the embrace; it was gentle, unlike how she had seen the elder sister hug Ruby, or any other time Yushi had physically ‘interacted’ with her younger sibling. It was also unlike how her own sister, Winter, would have acted…

Ruby could only gape at the two, continually turning her head from one to the other, in incredulousness. The young reaper then spotted Blake leaning over to the left to peek at her from around Yushi. They shared a stare for a couple of minutes before looking back at the two.

It felt like a warmth had enveloped her…and the gentle pressure of the embrace was comforting… Weiss almost began to actually relax after a minute and accept it, until Yushi pulled away and took her out of the moment.

The three watched as Yushi had sat back to where she was sitting before and gave Weiss an actual empathetic look. Weiss was used to mocking or sneering faces, so empathy was new to her. After a minute, Yushi finally spoke.

“That...explains a lot.” Another minute passed. “And to be honest, I can’t exactly blame you. In fact...” Yushi’s eyes hardened, giving Weiss a serious look, but it was a more focused sort of seriousness than before.

“Before I begin, I need you to know something.” The serious attitude and tone the monkey Faunus directed towards her made Weiss feel a little uneasy… “That not all Faunus are the same. We’re just like people on the inside, even if we look different. Whether we had cat claws, bird wings, or spider eyes, we’re just regular people trying to live regular lives, like any other person. And that means that not all Faunus are in the White Fang.”

Yushi didn’t bat an eye when Weiss gave her a slight disbelieving look. You can’t exactly expect someone to change their opinions overnight.

“And if you have any Faunus related questions that you wanna ask me, then ask away and I’ll try to answer ‘em.”

Blake, following her partner’s speech, had to interrupt as something she said was nagging at her. “Yushi, what did you mean by ‘before I begin?’” Yushi looked over with a grin, but this one was accompanied with a worried look.

“Well, I have a story, too. A story I think everyone should hear. A story that I’m not exactly proud of...” 

Ruby tried to think of an instance that Yushi wouldn’t be ‘proud’ of… And a few crossed her mind, but those were the kind of stories that Yushi loved to tell, but now she actually seemed like she didn’t want to tell it. And that’s when it hit her.

“Yushi,” Ruby said, trying to be consoling, “nobody blames you for that--” But Yushi stopped her.

“It doesn’t matter, because I do.” The brawler looked over towards Weiss again and asked, “Do you remember just before initiation, when I said ‘other organizations’ tried to recruit me?” Weiss narrowed her eyes warily at the fit girl, but answered anyways.

“Vaguely...”

“One of them...was the White Fang.” Blake (out of disbelief) and Weiss (out of terror) could only gape at the girl, completely unprepared for that revelation.

Yushi quickly held her hands up, trying to placate them, “Before anyone can start jumping down my throat, let me explain!” As soon as she was reassured that she could continue, she did. 

“It was sometime after the video where I killed the Goliath got uploaded to the CCT and got people talking, which then brought the stories about the Myrmidon colony and the three Deathstalker kills back up. The stories spread like wildfire through Vale and even to the other Kingdoms a little, but soon enough, everyone wanted a piece of Yushi.”

“While most people thought it was some sort of publicity stunt, other people thought otherwise. I got the occasional journalist who wanted an interview and fans wanting an autograph, but I never really cared about that kinda stuff to begin with… At first, the Huntsman Academies sent in their forms and pamphlets, though Ozpin only sent one. He probably already knew that I was going to choose Beacon anyway.”

Yushi could only chuckle at herself as she continued, “Then came the combat tourney managers. Now those guys were relentless!” Yushi’s expression slowly became serious as she tried to think of a way how to explain what happened next.

“And after that, the White Fang began to show up. At first it was an innocent flier guy or two who tried to give me a pamphlet; I still have doubts as to whether they just happened to be there or not...”

Yushi shook the thought out of her head before continuing, “Anywho… Then a Faunus or two would walk up to me and try to start a conversation. They looked like any regular ol’ Faunus that you’d meet, but they had these white and red bandanas that they wore around their necks…” Yushi rolled her eyes. “Real subtle...”

“They would ‘just happen’ to recognize me from the video and want to talk. They always tried to sneak something about the White Fang in before eventually asking whether I had ever thought about joining the White Fang. I told them no every time.”

“After that, a White Fang agent or two would follow me around as I did whatever I was doing; getting parts for the Barracuda, shopping for clothes, did an odd job or two… I would ditch them as soon as I could, though.” 

Yushi took a deep breath and wiped her hand down her face, dreading what was coming up next. She looked over at Ruby, who gave her a supportive grin, but her silver eyes betrayed the worry she had for her sister. Weiss looked between the two, having noticed the interaction, before looking back towards the Faunus girl.

Then Yushi continued. “And after that...they decided to pay me a visit...”

… 

_ Ruby Rose, thirteen years old at the time, walked over to the front door after hearing someone knock on it. Dad and Yushi were too busy working on the Barracuda to answer, so she had to answer it. _

_ Whoever was at the door knocked again. “Coming!” Ruby called out. She turned the doorknob and opened the door, cheerfully saying, “Hi, can I...help...” Her grin froze on her face as her eyes widened in shock when the girl’s brain finally registered who had actually knocked. _

_ The White Fang _

_ Or more specifically, a trio of White Fang...operatives? They weren’t wearing the masks on their faces like the White Fang operatives that Ruby had seen on the news… They had their masks hanging around their necks on a cord, but the clothes that they were wearing were militaristic and were colored mostly black and really dark grey. _

_ Two of them were obviously men, one had slightly tanned skin, brown spikey hair, and a goatee. The other one had much darker skin, a shaved head, and no visible Faunus traits on him. The sole woman of the trio had pitch-black hair that had a violet streak running down the side of it and a pair of black wolf ears on her head. The first one looked down at her with mild amusement while the second one just ignored her as if she just wasn’t there.  _

_ The wolf Faunus, wearing a ‘kind’ grin, looked at Ruby and asked, “Hello. We apologize for intruding, but we were wondering if a miss Yushi Xiao Long was home. Could we speak with her, please?” _

_ It took a full minute for the poor girl’s brain to fully reboot before answering. “Uh...yeah. I’ll be right back, ‘kay?” _

_ The wolf Faunus nodded her head in thanks and none of them reacted when Ruby gently closed the door. The red-hooded girl waited a moment before walking out back to where her sister and father were. _

_ When she had reached them, the younger girl squeaked, “Yushi?” Her sister and father, both grungy with grease looked up from the other side of the custom Valean chopper. Zwei peaked from around it, holding a wrench in his mouth. _

_ Without missing a beat, Taiyang knew something was wrong… “Rubes? What’s the matter?”  _

_ Ruby fidgeted in place for another moment before answering, “Um… The White Fang is at the front door...” The two gaped at her while Zwei dropped the wrench, it clanging against the ground. Yushi, without any warning, immediately got up and sped-walked towards the house. _

_ “Yushi, don’t--!” Taiyang tried, but was ignored as Yushi stomped through the house. _

_ Yushi heard the trio talk in hushed whispers behind the door before stopping as they heard her stomping. She didn’t care. She took some satisfaction in their surprised expressions when she suddenly swung the door open and gave them a glare to end all glares. _

_ The woman, startled at first, was the first one to speak. “H-hello, my name is--” Suddenly, her eyes crossed each other as Yushi pointed a finger dangerously close to her face. _

_ “I do NOT care,” the monkey-tailed girl interrupted, her Aura flaring at every yell. “I told your asshat buddies no once, twice, fifty times. I am NOT going to join your STUPID TERRORIST-CULT! So take the hint and FUCK OFF ALREADY!” _

_ *Slam!* _

_ The three tensed as the door literally slammed hard enough to shake the house a little. They then looked surprised when the door opened up again. _

_ “Also, if I see ANY of you around here- that includes the entire island- again...I’m gonna snap you like  _ twigs _.” _

_ *Slam!* _

_ Yushi heard one of them, through the door, deadpan, “I blame Corsac and Fennec for the whole ‘cult’ thing.” _

_ “Shut it, Yuma...” the wolf Faunus responded. _

_ Without missing a beat, Yushi stomped past both Ruby and Taiyang as she headed out the back and said, “I’m gonna go and punch Grimm ‘till I feel better.” The two and Zwei looked at each other but didn’t respond. It was best to let the monkey Faunus just vent. _

_ … _

_ Something woke Yushi from her sleep. Struggling. She instantly twisted around and saw a White Fang operative struggle as Zwei- it was Yushi’s turn to have him in her room- gripped onto the masked Faunus’ arm with his teeth. _

_ The operative managed to punch the corgi off of his arm, growling, “Stupid dog...” before doubling over as his Aura broke and all of the air in his lungs were forced out simultaneously. Yushi let him collapse onto the floor, unconscious with a distinct fist-shaped imprint in his gut. _

_ Yushi rushed to Zwei and asked, “Are you okay, boy?” The corgi got up and shook his whole body, not worse for wear. It probably helped that he had his Aura unlocked. And he was such a freakish badass of a dog. _

_ *Arf!* _

_ Yushi smirked and nodded. “Good, now lets see if we can kick some ass.” It was pretty obvious what the situation was; the White Fang didn’t exactly take the rejection well and wanted to force her to join...somehow. Gods these people were freaking stupid. _

_ The two quickly checked Ruby and Tai’s room, but neither of them were there. That didn’t bode well. Then they heard yelling coming outside. They ran down the stairs to see where their family was. _

_ What Yushi saw was her worst nightmare. Tai was surrounded by four different operatives, holding his own since a fifth was lying on the ground, while Ruby struggled in a sixth’s arm.  _

_ Her eyes widened when she saw her sister and called out, “Yushi!!” Everyone turned and saw the monkey Faunus just standing there, dumbfounded. The last one, the wolf Faunus from before, unsheathed her sword as she took a couple steps. _

_ “You know,” she said, not bothering to hide the disdain in her voice anymore, “none of this had to happen. All of this could have been avoided if you had just said yes. But no, you refused our offer, the chance to help your fellow Faunus in creating a better world. And for what?” _

_ The wolf Faunus swiftly moved her sword so the blade was an inch or so away from Ruby’s throat, making all four family members tense up. _

_ “RUBY!” Taiyang yelled, but two of the operatives that he was fighting cut him off, pissing him off to no end. _

_ “For these humans?” the wolf-eared woman prattled on, “Do you honestly think that they’re any better than the rest of them because they adopted you? The don’t care; they saw you as a charity case and see you as nothing more than...” _

_ But Yushi wasn’t listening. The words flowed around her like a stream. Her eyes were closed as she replayed how close that sword had been to Ruby’s throat. It reminded her of that day. The day they should have died. It would have been her fault, like it was now.  _

_ Something inside of Yushi snapped...again. At that moment, it would be the second time that Yushi ‘lost control.’ _

_ Her body relaxed, giving in to the anger…  _

_ The wolf Faunus stopped her squawking when she saw Yushi open her eyes, having the irises turn vivid green. But what had gotten everyone’s attention was the sudden flash of fiery green Aura flare up around her. The Aura bathed the area in a soft green glow. Then she began to move. _

_ “S-stay back...” the suddenly frightened Faunus woman warned, but Yushi continued to walk calmly towards her, like a predator. “I s-said...stay back!” She nudged the blade closer to Ruby’s neck, which made Yushi pause. _

_ Then in a near-flash, the brawler loomed over the woman. Out of sheer instinct, the operative lashed out towards Yushi with her sword, only for her to catch it in her hand. Yushi crunched the blade and twisted it around until it was nothing except a thing of useless metal. _

_ Yushi leaned forward until she was staring down at the woman. Her face looked calm, but her eyes showed just how incomprehensibly furious she was. _

_ “Remember when I said that I was going to snap you like twigs?” The wolf-eared woman didn’t answer. “I meant that literally.” _

_ And in another flash, Yushi punched the White Fang member, simultaneously breaking her Aura, pulverizing nearly all of her ribs (without puncturing either lung...somehow), and sent her flying right into a tree, breaking it in half. The others gaped in horror...until a groan signaled that she was alive. Barely. _

_ Yushi turned her head towards the one holding Ruby. He flinched when his eyes met hers. _

_ “Your next.” It wasn’t a threat. It was a certainty. _

_ …  _

_ At the end of the night, the Valean police (since the simple Patch sheriff’s office could barely detain a couple of rowdy drunks) had rounded up a total of eight White Fang members, all of them needing medical treatment for broken bones, internal bruising, etc. _

_ Coincidentally, all other reported White Fang activity on the island had dropped to nil overnight…and stayed that way.  _

_ Ozpin had thought it was a good idea to keep everything covered up so as to not draw anymore attention to the Xiao Long-Rose family, much to their relief. They had enough of anything related to White or Fang for a long time. _

_ Ruby and Tai tried to talk about it, wanting to reassure Yushi that none of it was her fault, but she wanted to move on. Deep inside, she still felt like it was her fault. If only she had called Qrow, Auntie Goodwitch, or Ozpin, then maybe her sister and father wouldn’t have been threatened…  _

… 

...And that is where Yushi ended the story. A long silence dominated the room. It lasted so long that Yushi coughed in her hand just to add some kind of noise. The looks that both Weiss and Blake were giving her was starting to get really awkward.

Yushi huffed to herself before turning to Weiss and said, “Look, you don’t have to believe me, but Faunus are just like humans; there are some that do good things and some that do bad things. The White Fang may be a Faunus-run organization, but that doesn’t mean every Faunus backs them. Not by a long shot. They stopped fighting for equality a while ago and just want to watch the world burn.” 

The brawler then haphazardly tried to climb into her bunk. Once she had gotten up there, she continued, “You hate it that ‘all Faunus’ blame you for your father’s crap, right? Imagine how I feel whenever someone blames me or a friend for something that some White Fang ass did just because we just happen to be Faunus.” 

Yushi paused before turning away from the blanchette. “Just...think it over, okay?” She laid down in her bed and promptly covered herself with her blanket. “Well, I’m emotionally drained. G’night!”

Ruby could only look from her sister to her two teammates, watching them try to process what they had heard. She shook her head as she got ready for bed, too. She just wished that Yushi would forgive herself like she and Dad did…

Weiss blinked as she had watched the fit girl climb into bed. ‘Think it over?’ What was there to think over? The only thing that she learned from the story was that Yushi was  _ not  _ to be messed with and… 

The White Fang had tried to force a Faunus to join them by threatening her family. That went against what she had known and thought about them. She figured that any Faunus would jump at the chance to join them, but had to be invited or prove their worth. The fencer couldn’t tell if this clarified something or just confused her more.

She thought over what the taller girl had said as the white-haired girl went to her own bed,  _ “They stopped fighting for equality a while ago…”  _

_ “Imagine how I feel whenever someone blames me or a friend for something that some White Fang ass did just because we just happen to be Faunus.” _

And while she contemplated, lying on the bed, a thought crept into her mind… Blaming someone for what someone else did with no evidence that the former had been involved at all. Both sides were doing it. The White Fang targeted her for being a Schnee and she feared the Faunus for what the White Fang did… That was what Yushi had suggested, at the very least.

Weiss huffed out loud as she leaned over to the desk near her bunk and turned off the lamp, darkening the room further. Maybe a good night's sleep will calm her…

… 

In the dark, Blake sat on her bed, unsure on what to do exactly. She didn’t dare try to finish reading where she had left off in her book, in the off chance that her teammates happened to notice the hidden Faunus reading in the dark. That would’ve defeated the point of being ‘hidden.’

No, she was more conflicted mentally. She had no idea… Blake  _ definitely  _ would’ve remembered something like a recruitment going  _ that  _ awry. Hell, that wasn’t a recruitment at all; it was an attempted abduction. Though she did remember a story about eight operatives getting captured, but nothing more than that. They probably wanted to keep the details under wraps as a show of strength and to not lose morale.

But that wasn’t what was bothering her. That went to her partner’s attitude towards the White Fang. While she couldn’t blame Yushi for how she felt...would that extend to her? 

Originally, she had the thought to reveal her ears to Yushi, seeing as she was a Faunus, too. The amber-eyed girl was certain that the buffer girl wouldn’t blab if she asked to keep it a secret between them. She was also certain that she would understand why she hid her ears...but now?

Blake screwed her eyes shut as she thought,  _ Dammit! This just couldn’t be easy, could it? _

Would Yushi freak out if she discovered that Blake was an ex-member of the White Fang? Unlikely, but then again, she did remember how the monkey Faunus had reacted when that Umbranther attacked. But had she gotten angry because she thought that Blake had been hurt. That counted for something, right?

Or would Yushi feel betrayed? Think that Blake was spying on her or trying to get some kind of payback?

And the bibliophile shivered when she recalled how Yushi had described easily handling eight probably highly trained White Fang operatives… She did not want to be on the receiving end of that anytime soon. 

Not only that, but she noticed Ruby’s expressions when Yushi had told the story; Blake had only seen the younger girl that forlorn when Weiss had snapped at her. She was sad for Yushi.

Blake fell backwards and laid on her bed, staring up into the bottom of Yushi’s bunk. Was there any way to salvage this? Maybe, but only if she played it  _ extremely  _ carefully.

…

Maybe try to prod a couple answers from her with some hypothetical questions? ...That would probably make her look suspicious.

The dark-haired girl breathed out a sigh before curling her blanket up to her cheek and shutting her eyes. She knew that she’d better come up with something soon; the longer she waited to do something, the worse Yushi’s reaction would be.

_...To be continued. _


End file.
